Fish of Australia

The Great Barrier Reef runs for more than two thousand kilometres and forms the largest reef system in the world. Its fauna belongs to the Indo-Pacific and is found, in part, as far as Southeast Asia — a striking contrast with the isolation of the same continent’s fresh waters.

The interior, by contrast, lacks water. The country’s main river system swings between prolonged drought and massive flood, and its fauna has adapted to that irregularity. Australian freshwater species are few but highly distinctive, many of them found nowhere else.

The temperate southern coasts present a third face, with colder water, kelp forests and a fauna distinct from the tropical north. Seasons there follow the southern hemisphere calendar.