Barrier reef

A barrier reef is a coral reef separated from a coast by a lagoon or deeper water. It may extend for hundreds or thousands of kilometers along a continental margin.

Coral reef: A marine ecosystem built by corals and other organisms that deposit calcium carbonate. Barrier reefs are one form of coral reef, distinguished by their separation from the coast.
Darwin's theory of coral reef formation: Charles Darwin’s explanation that fringing reefs can become barrier reefs and atolls as volcanic islands subside. It explains how a reef can become separated from a coast while coral growth continues upward.
Great Barrier Reef: The world’s largest coral reef system, extending along the northeast coast of Australia. It is the best-known example of a barrier reef system separated from shore by a lagoon.
Coastal protection: The reduction of coastal erosion and flooding through natural features or engineered structures. Barrier reefs absorb and dissipate wave energy before it reaches the shore.
Ocean acidification: The decrease in ocean pH caused mainly by seawater absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Acidification can make it harder for corals and other organisms to build calcium-carbonate structures.
Coral: A marine invertebrate animal that often lives in colonies and builds a calcium-carbonate skeleton. Reef-building corals produce much of the framework that forms barrier reefs.
Fringing reef: A coral reef that directly borders a shore or lies very close to it, without a broad intervening lagoon. In Darwin’s reef sequence, a fringing reef may develop into a barrier reef as its island subsides.
Belize Barrier Reef: A coral reef system off the coast of Belize, forming part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. It demonstrates how a barrier reef can extend along a continental coast in the Caribbean.
Coral reef fish: Fish species that live in or depend on coral reef ecosystems. The complex reef framework offers shelter, feeding grounds, and breeding habitat.
Marine heatwave: A prolonged period of unusually warm ocean temperatures in a particular region. Marine heatwaves can trigger mass coral bleaching across barrier reefs.

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