Belize Barrier Reef Facts

The Great Belize Barrier Reef - A World Heritage Site

The Belize Barrier Reef is home to a large diversity of plants and animals and is one of the most diverse ecosystems of the world.

It is comprised of 70 hard coral species, 36 soft coral species, 500 species of fish, and hundreds of invertebrate species.

With 90% of the reef still needing to be researched, it is estimated that only 10% of all species have been discovered.

Charles Darwin described it as "the most remarkable barrier reef in the West Indies" in 1842.

Belize's Barrier Reef is a series of coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize, roughly 300 meters offshore in the north and 40 kilometers in the south within the country limits.

The Belize Barrier Reef is a 300 kilometers long section of the 900 kilometers long Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System.

It is the second largest coral reef system in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and is popular for scuba diving and snorkeling. The Barrier reef is also Belize’s top tourist destination, attracting almost half of its 260, 000 visitors, and vital to its fishing industry.

A large portion of the reef is protected by the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, which includes seven marine reserves, 450 cayes, and three atolls. It totals 960 km² in area, including Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve, Great Blue Hole, Halfmoon Caye Natural Monument, Hol Chan Marine Reserve.

Cayes include: Ambergris Caye, Caye Caulker, Caye Chapel, St. George’s Caye, English Caye, Rendezvous Caye, Gladden Caye, Ranguana Caye, Long Caye, Maho Caye, Blackbird Caye, and Three Coner Caye.

The Reserve System has been designated as a World Heritage Site since 1996 because of its exceptional natural beauty, and essential on-going ecological and biological processes. It contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity.

Belize Coral Reef

Coral reefs are aragonite structures produced by living animal colonies, found in marine waters containing few nutrients.