Meet Piper. She is on a trip with her family to Australia. Piper has never been to Australia before and is excited to see new places and animals that are not back home in Florida. Today, Piper's family has plans to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef. Piper has snorkeled in the ocean near her house, but she has never snorkeled an area so large and vast.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest reef located off the eastern coast of Australia in the Coral Sea. It is so large that is can be seen from outer space! The reef itself is about the same size as the country of Italy and it holds about 10 percent of the world's fish population. The reef is currently under a great threat of bleaching from pollution and climate change.

To get out to the reef where we could snorkel we had to get on a big boat. On the ride out, I stood near the bow of the boat and pretended that I was a pirate in a journey to find lost treasure. It was a long ride before we reached a place that we could get off and start snorkeling. From the boat I could already see how beautiful the reef was.

When we finally reached an area where we could snorkel on the reef, we put on all of our gear. I slid my wetsuit on over bathing suit. I slipped my flippers on my feet. I tightened my mask and snorkel to my head. I was ready to get in the water! My dad jumped in first, then my brother, and then I leaped into my dad's arms. Boy was the water a little chilly but I was ready to explore.

Looking down, the first thing I saw were gigantic pieces of what looked like rock. I knew that this was coral and that it was actually an animal! Coral is made up of colonies of very tiny animals called polyps. These polyps excrete calcium to form what we see as coral, and they live in this structure. It is important to not touch coral or pollute our waters so that these beautiful structures do not die or become bleached.

There were so many fish swimming around us that they looked like lightning bolts zooming by. My favorite fish was a Blue Tang because they are the same species as Dory in Finding Nemo. Fish don't have lungs like we do. They have gills on the sides of their heads that take in water and extract oxygen from the water so that they can breathe. They also eat the algae that grows on coral, which keeps the coral healthy.

Next, I saw a little head poke out of a hole in the coral. I knew this was eel! Eels look like snakes but they are actually fish that lack most fins. They do have a long dorsal fin that spans the entire length of their body to help them move through the water. Eels burrow into sand or rock to hide from predators. But, be careful! They have very strong jaws.

Looking around, there was sea grass everywhere. Sea grass is an essential part of the aquatic ecosystem because it is a habitat to so many animals and it carries out cellular processes such as photosynthesis. The chlorophyll in plants, which makes them green, takes in carbon dioxide and sunlight energy to create food for the plants to use and releases oxygen into the water.

About fifteen feet in front of me I saw a manta ray swim over the coral. These are giant animals but they swim with such grace that they are beautiful. Their large pectoral fins on their sides help them to swim through the water. At the front of their head, they have two cephalic fins which help them to push food into their mouths. You can also see that their gills are large and located on the bottom of their head.