Dugong

Closely related to elephants rather than any marine animal, the dugong (Dugong dugon) is the smallest member of the order Sirenia (which also includes the manatees and Steller's sea cow). It weighs in at 400 kg and measures 3m in length. Its name originated from the Malay word 'duyung', meaning 'lady of the sea' or 'mermaid'. Dugong can live up to 70 years and feed off sea grass9. They give birth once every 2½ - 5 years after they've had their first calf, between the ages of 6 - 17 years old. Groups of 10,000 or more are present on the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, at Shark Bay, and in Torres Strait, which is south of New Guinea.

In Mission Beach, dugongs can be sighted on the sea grass beds off Hinchinbrook Island.

Introduction to The Reef

Located in the Coral Sea off the north-east coast of Australia, the Great Barrier Reef is one of the greatest natural wonders of the world and in 1981 was listed as a World Heritage site. It measures 348,700 square kilometres in area and is about 2,300 kilometres long, running from just north of Bundaberg to the tip of the Cape York Peninsula. The Great Barrier Reef contains over 3,000 reefs, which vary in size from 1 hectare to over 10,000. It also includes 760 fringing reefs, 300 coral cays and 618 continental islands. As the world's largest coral reef ecosystem, the Great Barrier Reef is home to a large population of dugong, 1,500 species of fish, 400 species of coral, 4,000 species of mollusc, 500 species of seaweed, 215 species of bird, 16 species of sea snake and six species of sea turtle.