Cato Reef Cato Reef Cato Reef, a part of the Cato Bank, is an area in the Coral Sea off the central coast of Queensland, Australia that is of approximately 21 km by 13 km of this 200 km area, where depth of water is typically less than 17 m. Upon Cato Bank Cato Reef encircles an area of 3.3 km by 1.8 km, area 5 km including a small shallow lagoon which contains Cato Island, a low-relief cay in the west that is approximately 650 by 300 m, area 15 hectares, 6 m high. Close to the southeast corner of Cato
Coral Sea tissue. An individual adult can eat up to 6 m of reef per year. In 2000, an outbreak of crown-of-thorns starfish contributed to a loss of 66% of live coral cover on sampled reefs. Changes in water quality and overfishing of natural predators, such as the Giant Triton, may have contributed to an increase in the number of crown-of-thorns starfish. There are at least 30 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises, including the dwarf minke whale, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, humpback whale and dugongs. Six species of sea turtles breed on the GBR – the green sea turtle, leatherback sea turtle,