The Central Western Shelf Province, also known as the Shark Bay

marine ecoregion A marine ecoregion is an ecoregion, or ecological region, of the oceans and seas identified and defined based on biogeographic characteristics. Introduction A more complete definition describes them as “Areas of relatively homogeneous species ...

, is a

biogeographic Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...

region of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an islan ...

and coastal waters. It includes the subtropical coastal waters of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

."A Guide to the Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia Version 4.0". Department of Environment and Heritage, Government of Australia. June 2006. ISBN 0 642 552274.

Geography

The Central Western Shelf Province includes the subtropical coastal waters and continental shelf along

's west coast, extending from Gnaraloo Bay to Kalbarri. It bounded on the north by the Central Western Shelf Transition, or Ningaloo Coast, which is a transitional zone between the subtropical and tropical coastal waters. On the south it is bounded by the Southwest Shelf Transition, a transition from subtropical waters to the warm temperate waters further south. The warm

Leeuwin Current The Leeuwin Current is a warm ocean current which flows southwards near the western coast of Australia. It rounds Cape Leeuwin to enter the waters south of Australia where its influence extends as far as Tasmania. Discovery The existence of the ...

runs southwards along the coast. The continental shelf is narrow. The coastline is generally rocky with narrow fringing reefs, and exposed to high-energy swells from the Indian Ocean. The

Zuytdorp Cliffs The Zuytdorp Cliffs extend for about along a rugged, spectacular and little visited segment of the Western Australian Indian Ocean coast. The cliffs extend from just south of the mouth of the Murchison River at Kalbarri, to Pepper Point sou ...

are dramatic limestone seacliffs which extend along the southern coastline from the northern tip of the Edel Land peninsula to the mouth of the Murchison River near Kalbarri. Shark Bay is a large sheltered embayment, nearly enclosed by

Bernier Bernier is a French-language, French surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Chantal Bernier, Canadian lawyer * Charles A. Bernier (1890–1963), American college sports coach * David Bernier or Kike Bernier (born 1977), Puerto Rican f ...

, Dorre, and

Dirk Hartog Dirk Hartog (; baptised 30 October 1580 – buried 11 October 1621) was a 17th-century Dutch sailor and explorer. Dirk Hartog's expedition was the second European group to land in Australia and the first to leave behind an artifact to record hi ...

islands and Edel Land.

Ecology

The biota of the province is characterised by a suite of subtropical species, whose range generally extends northwards along the Ningaloo Coast, and southwards into the South Western Shelf Transition, particularly the

Houtman Abrolhos The Houtman Abrolhos (often called the Abrolhos Islands) is a chain of 122 islands and associated coral reefs in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia about west of Geraldton, Western Australia. It is the southernmost true coral r ...

reefs and Archipelago. This faunal community was recognised in Barry Hutchins' survey of reef fish (1994), and represents the southern part of G. P. Whitley’s (1937) Dampierian Province. Shark Bay is the largest and most ecologically important embayment between

Exmouth Gulf Exmouth Gulf is a Bay, gulf in the North West Australia, north-west of Western Australia. It lies between North West Cape and the main coastline of Western Australia. It is considered to be part of the Pilbara Coast and Northwest Shelf, and t ...

and

Cockburn Sound Cockburn Sound () is an inlet of the Indian Ocean on the coast of Western Australia. It extends from the south of the mouth of the Swan River at Fremantle for about to Point Peron near Rockingham. The total area of the sound is about . It ...

. It is home to extensive seagrass meadows and calcareous sand banks which provide habitat for rich and diverse communities of fishes, invertebrates, and macrophytic algae, along with a significant

dugong The dugong (; ''Dugong dugon'') is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest ...

(''Dugong dugon'') population.

Stromatolites Stromatolites ( ) or stromatoliths () are layered sedimentary formations ( microbialite) that are created mainly by photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, sulfate-reducing bacteria, and Pseudomonadota (formerly proteobacteria) ...

, rare colonies of

cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria ( ) are a group of autotrophic gram-negative bacteria that can obtain biological energy via oxygenic photosynthesis. The name "cyanobacteria" () refers to their bluish green (cyan) color, which forms the basis of cyanobacteri ...

and other bacteria which form microbial mats up to a meter high, are found in sheltered lagoons. Shark Bay was designated a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

in 1991.

Meso-scale bioregions

The

Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia The Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA), formerly the Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation for Australia, is a biogeographic regionalisation of the oceanic waters of Australia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ ...

(IMCRA) identifies two meso-scale bioregions that make up the transition: *

Shark Bay Shark Bay () is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The area is located approximately north of Perth, on the westernmost point of the Australian continent. UNESCO's listing of Shark Bay as a World Heritage S ...

(SBY) includes the inner waters of Shark Bay, south of Cape Ronsard on Bernier Island. *

Zuytdorp ''Zuytdorp'', also ''Zuiddorp'' (meaning 'South Village', after Zuiddorpe, an extant village in the south of Zeeland in the Netherlands, near the Belgian border) was an 18th-century trading ship of the Dutch East India Company (, commonly abb ...

(ZUY) includes the mainland coast from Gnaraloo Bay south to Carnarvon, the western side of the islands enclosing Shark Bay and the Zuytdorp Cliffs along the western shore of Edel Land and the southern mainland.

References

{{reflist Biogeography of Western Australia Ecoregions of Australia Marine ecoregions IMCRA provincial bioregions Temperate Australasia