| Ecosystem |
West Central Australian Shelf |
| Type |
Sea/Bay/Gulf |
| Salinity |
saltwater |
| Other Names |
|
| Location |
|
LME SAU No 44. LME2002, LME2006, SAUP 2008. |
18° S 30° S - 104° E 118° E |
|
| Location Map |
wcentral-australian.jpg |
| Size Ref |
|
River Length |
|
Area |
580405 km2 |
Drainage Area |
|
|
| Depth |
|
Average Depth |
|
Max Depth |
|
Ref |
|
|
| Temperature |
|
| Description |
The West-Central Australia Large Marine Ecosystem extends from Cape Leeuwin, at Australia’s southwest edge, to NorthWest Cape. The LME owes its unity to the West Australia Current, a north-flowing current coming from the circulation pattern of the counter-clockwise Indian Ocean gyre and West Wind Drift. But it also has a southward-bound band of warm water known as the Leeuwin Current, thanks to which tropical reefs flourish further south than anywhere else in the world. The LME has an extremely narrow shelf. It has cool, temperate waters and it includes seagrass beds and diverse and abundant algal communities (http://na.nefsc.noaa.gov/lme/text/lme44.htm; formerly West-Central Australian Shelf). |
| Comments on faunal list |
Area from SAU (November 2015). |
| URL 1 |
http://www.seaaroundus.org/lme/44.aspx |
| URL 2 |
|
| Ecosystem Checklist Link |
|
| Total |
|
Species |
Families |
Species |
Families |
Reference |
|
461 |
144 |
|
|
|
|
