Enchantment Under the Sea[美丽的海底世界]JPu中国英语学习网
It's the largest living organism on Earth -- the only underwater creation big enough to be seen from outer space. You'd be crazy to miss the Great Barrier Reef.
The first morning I'm awakened by birds -- flocks of Hitchcockian proportions. But the air is filled not with threatening sea gulls but with hundreds of red, purple, blue and yellow parakeets and lorikeets, which are basically giant parakeets but more brilliantly plumed.
After daylight, we board a 400-passenger catamaran for the one-and-a-half-hour sail to Agincourt Reef, part of the Great Barrier Reef. There we board a motorboat with just three other passengers and a marine biologist. We head farther out to sea, to the very edge of the continental shelf.
With snorkel gear, including a thin nylon suit that protects from stinging jellyfish, we explore a different world beneath the sea. The numerous parrotfish we see increase their odds of living through a nap by excreting a mucus casing, like a sleeping bag, that disguises their fish smell. We see fish harems led by one male, and if the male dies or abandons the school, one of the females will replace him by turning into a male.
The Great Barrier Reef is home to 1,500 species of fish and 400 types of coral. I'll say no more about it -- you simply have to add it to your list. |