Swain Reefs National Park

Swain Reefs National Park
Queensland
Swain Reefs National Park is located in Queensland
Swain Reefs National Park
Swain Reefs National Park
Coordinates21°14′22″S 151°50′48″E / 21.23944°S 151.84667°E / -21.23944; 151.84667
Established1995
Area0.58 km2 (0.22 sq mi)
Managing authoritiesQueensland Parks and Wildlife Service
See alsoProtected areas of Queensland

Swain Reefs is a national park in North Queensland, Australia, 703 km (437 miles) north of Brisbane. It was established in 1995, and covers an area of 0.58 km2. It is managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.

Fauna

A pair of roseate terns facing each other and calling
The IBA is an important area for roseate terns

Birds

Nine small cays, with a combined area of 9 ha (22 acres), comprise the Swain Reefs Important Bird Area (IBA), identified as such by BirdLife International because together they support over 1% of the world population of breeding roseate terns, and even larger numbers of non-breeding roseate terns, with up to 25,000 individuals recorded there.[1] Other birds recorded on the cays include masked and brown boobies, silver gulls, black-naped, sooty, bridled, greater crested, lesser crested and little terns, black and common noddies, and lesser frigatebirds. Cays supporting seabirds include Gannet Cay (1.7 ha (4.2 acres)), Bylund Cay (0.6 ha (1.5 acres)), Thomas Cay (1 ha (2.5 acres)), Bacchi Cay (0.5 ha (1.2 acres)), Frigate Cay (2 ha (4.9 acres)), Price Cay (1.6 ha (4.0 acres)), Distant Cay (0.25 ha (0.62 acres)), Riptide Cay (0.25 ha (0.62 acres)) and Bell Cay (1.5 ha (3.7 acres)).[2]

Fish

The rockcod (Epinephelus fuscomarginatus), which is popular in Australian cuisine, occurs here at depths of about 220 m (720 ft).[3][4]

See also

References

  1. ^ "IBA: Swain Reefs". Birdata. Birds Australia. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  2. ^ Important Bird Areas factsheet: Swain Reefs, BirdLife International, 2011, retrieved 26 October 2011
  3. ^ Cockburn, Harry (4 November 2019). "Mystery fish being eaten by Australians found to be unknown to science". The Independent. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  4. ^ Johnson, J.; Wilmer, J. Worthington (2019). "Epinephelus fuscomarginatus (Perciformes: Epinephelidae), a new species of grouper from off the Great Barrier Reef, Australia". Zootaxa. 4674 (3): zootaxa.4674.3.2. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4674.3.2. PMID 31716001. S2CID 204142707.


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