The Great Barrier Reef offers exciting activities like snorkeling and scuba diving, but visitors must be aware of dangerous marine life. Box jellyfish and blue-ringed octopi carry venom that can kill adults within minutes via respiratory failure. Sea snake bites cause pain, muscle spasms, and potentially respiratory paralysis. While moray eel bites are usually defensive, some species secrete a toxic mucus. Lionfish stings are very painful and can cause nausea or breathing difficulties. Proper precautions like medical supplies and protective clothing are necessary for safe exploration of the reef.

1. Coral Reef (Great barrier Reef)

2. Average Temp 23–25 °C (73–77 °F).

3. Necessities- Shark repellent Sunscreen Bathing suit Money Adventure- A vacation to the Great Barrier Reef is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Some fun activities one might enjoy include: snorkeling, scuba diving, swimming and other various exhilarating experiences.

4. You have virtually no chance of surviving the venomous sting, unless treated immediately. The pain is so excruciating and overwhelming that you would most likely go into shock and drown before reaching the shore The box jellyfish Measuring up to 20 cm along each side of the cube or bell, the Box Jellyfish has up to as many as 15 tentacles on each corner which can be 3 meters in length with up to 5,000 nematocysts .

5. The blue ringed octopus It starts life the size of a pea and is fully grown at about the size of a golf ball. They have a life span of approx. 2 years. Carry enough poison to kill 26 adults within minutes Onset of nausea. Hazy Vision. ( Within seconds you are blind.) Loss of sense of touch, speech and the ability to swallow. Within 3 minutes, paralysis sets in and your body goes into respiratory arrest.

6. Sea snakes have specialized flattened tails for swimming and have valves over their nostrils which are closed underwater. They differ from eels in that they don't have gill slits and have scales. Due to their need to breathe air, they are usually found in shallow water where they swim about the bottom feeding on fish, fish eggs and eels. Intense pain is not obvious at the site of the sea snake bite; 30 minutes after the bite there is stiffness, muscle aches and spasm of the jaw followed by moderate to severe pain in the affected limb. There follows progressive CNS symptoms of blurred vision, drowsiness and finally respiratory paralysis.

7. The Moray eel’s huge head, dark eyes and concave teeth are enough to make it look menacing, yet the moray eel attacks only if it feels threatened. If it tries to bite an imprudent diver, it is only as a self-defense attack. Its bites are not venomous even if made to believe otherwise at times But…. some species can inoculate a toxin secreted by the buccal mucous membrane.

8. Lionfish, also called turkey fish, dragon fish and scorpion fish, are native to the reefs and rocky crevices of the Indo-Pacific, although they've found their way to warm ocean habitats worldwide. A sting from a lionfish is extremely painful to humans and can cause nausea and breathing difficulties, but is rarely fatal

9. BY John Swanzy Jacob Tisserand

10. Bibliography http://www.scionline.org/index.php/Coral_Reef http://www.scionline.org/index.php/Main_Page http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/137083/coral-reef/284961/Winds-currents-temperature-and-salinity http://www.divethereef.com/images/maps/Cairns_master_map-L.jpg