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 whitetip reef shark ("Triaenodon obesus", 21%), silvertip shark ("Carcharhinus albimarginatus", 10%), tiger shark ("Galeocerdo cuvier", <1%) and great hammerhead ("Sphyrna mokarran", <1%). The interaction rate (free diving) at the Coral Sea reefs ranged from a few to 26 sharks per hour. The rare "Etmopterus dislineatus" shark species is endemic to the central part of the Coral Sea. It has been observed at depths of 590–700 m on or near the continental slope. The coastal areas of the Coral Sea were populated at least 40,000 years ago by prehistoric people descending through the northern islands. Those Aboriginal tribes have been dispersed