Mammal Bones And Teeth From Gray's Reef & Other Places

                                                VISITOR INFORMATON





Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary is one of the largest near shore live-bottom reefs of the southeastern United States. It is just one of 14 marine protected areas that make up the National Marine Sanctuary System that encompass more than 150,000 square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters from Washington State to the Florida Keys, and from Lake Huron to American Samoa; and one of three marine sanctuaries that make up the Southeast Region.

It is governed by the National Marine Sanctuaries Act and managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Gray's Reef is the only natural area protected off the Georgia coast. The 17 square nautical miles (about 11,000 acres) of Gray's Reef protects habitat that is recognized both nationally and internationally.

Within the sanctuary there are rocky ledges and flat and rippled sand plains. Gray's Reef is not a coral reef such as those found in the tropics. It is not built by living hard corals. Instead, it is a rock outcropping which stands above the shifting sands of the continental shelf.

It supports a wide variety of invertebrates, soft corals and sponges. Those in turn support a wide variety of reef and pelagic fishes making Gray's Reef a popular spot for both diving and recreational fishing.


http://graysreef.noaa.gov/