Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01389:body:0:p64
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01389
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 182684–185637

various species of ectoparasitic ticks and mites, and a terrestrial mollusc (Melampus sp.) have been recorded on North Keeling, but as yet no earthworms have been found. Earthworms are abundant on the southern atoll.
Marine environment
North Keeling Island is entirely surrounded by a broken, irregular fringing reef, except at the north-west corner. The reef is narrower on the sheltered sides of the island (north and west), and broader on the exposed sides (south and east). On the east coast it is continuous across the now-closed mouth of the lagoon. Much of the reef is partly exposed at low tide (Gibson-Hill 1948). Along the western side of the island is a wide coral terrace which drops into deep water (Ecology Lab 1994).
Given its relatively pristine environment and isolation from the southern atoll, the park's marine waters provide a valuable reference area because there is minimal impact from human activities such as human settlement, pollution and commercial fishing.

In broad terms the park comprises three major marine habitat types:
    * outer reef slope (subtidal)
    * reef flats including sandy and rocky shores (predominantly intertidal)
    * lagoon (predominantly subtidal) (Berry 1989).
The Cocos (Keeling) Islands represent the western limit for many species of the Western Pacific biogeographic province. Biogeographic and ecological interest in the marine biota also stems from the extreme isolation and relatively small size of the atolls, from which there are some unusual absences including benthic skates and rays.
According to Berry (1989), the extreme isolation of the islands influences their faunal composition. Species established at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands must be pelagic as adults or have long-lived pelagic larval stages to allow them to colonise the marine waters around the islands. In general, the marine fauna is relatively depauperate compared with other atolls (Berry 1989). However, the Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands have recently been identified as falling within a significant marine hybrid zone, with 11 new hybrid fishes documented (Hobbs 2009). In recent times periodical large-scale natural disturbances including cyclones (Bunce 1988), deoxygenation of lagoon waters and outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) have also reduced the abundance of corals (Berry 1989).
Taxonomic surveys of the marine fauna of the southern atoll were undertaken by the Western Australian Museum in 1989 and the Ecology Laboratory of the Institute of Marine Ecology, University of Sydney in 1992, with little attention given to the waters surrounding North Keeling Island due to the difficulty of access. Underwater visual surveys of the fish species of North Keeling Island were undertaken by James Cook University between 2008 and 2010, which provided data on observations of fish species of North Keeling Island, observations of hybrid fish species, and an initial report on the