Why is the White Sea called white, the Black Sea black, the Red Sea red, and the Yellow Sea yellow? Which sea is the bluest? Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean

(Spanish: Mar Caribe; English: Caribbean Sea) is one of the most beautiful tropical seas, part of the Atlantic Ocean. An marginal semi-enclosed sea, bounded from the south and west by the Central and South America, from the east and north - the Antilles (thanks to which the sea has a second name - Antilles).

In the northwest, the sea communicates with the Gulf of Mexico through the Yucatan Strait (Spanish: Yucatán Channel); through many interisland straits - with the Atlantic Ocean; and in the southwest, through an artificially constructed 80-kilometer waterway (Panama Canal) - with the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The region where the Caribbean Sea lies is known as the Caribbean. The shores of the following countries are washed by sea waters: in the south - and Panama; in the west - Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and (Mexican Peninsula); in the north - Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Jamaica; in the east are the countries of the Lesser Antilles. The surface area of ​​the sea is about 2,753 thousand km², the average volume of water is approximately 6,860 thousand km³.

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The sea is considered very deep: its average depth is 2.5 thousand m, the maximum is 7.7 thousand m (“Cayman Trench”). The color of sea water: from turquoise (bluish-green) to rich green.

The Caribbean Sea is of enormous economic and strategic importance, primarily as the shortest sea route connecting American ports with the ports of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through one of the largest construction projects undertaken by mankind (Spanish: del Canal de Panama). The most important ports located in the Caribbean Sea: and (Venezuela); (Colombia); Lemon (Costa Rica); Santo Domingo ( Dominican Republic); Colon (Panama); Santiago de Cuba (Cuba), etc.

Climate

The climate in the Caribbean is influenced by warm ocean currents and solar activity. tropical zone. Average annual temperature surface layers of sea water is +26°C. The Caribbean Sea receives the waters of many rivers, among which it should be noted (Spanish: Madalena), Atrato (Spanish: Atrato), Belém (Spanish: Belém), Dique (Spanish: Dique), Cricamola (Spanish: Kramola), etc.

The main trouble that often disrupts the idyll of these fabulous places, are destructive storms. The Caribbean Sea is considered to have the most hurricane storms in the Western Hemisphere.

Hurricanes are a serious problem for island and coastal communities. Hurricanes also cause great damage to numerous coral formations - atolls, reefs, and coastal fringes of islands. The northern Caribbean experiences an average of 8-9 tropical hurricanes per year from June to November.

Cradle of Pirates (Caribbean)

The sea received its name from a tribe of Carib Indians who lived on its warm coast in the pre-Columbian era. The sea has become famous for its amazingly beautiful coral reefs, frequent tropical cyclones, which are accompanied by devastating hurricanes, and pirates, who have chosen it as a field of their “fishing activities” for a long time.

The coastline of the sea along its entire length is extremely indented: there are numerous lagoons, bays, bays, and capes. The coastal soil is sandy, sandy-silty or rocky in places.

The coast in many places is covered with coral, amazing white sand.

Among the large bays we should note the Honduras (Spanish: Golfo de Honduras), (Spanish: Golfo de Venezuela), Mosquitos (Spanish: Golfo de los Mosquitos), Ana Maria (Spanish: Golfo Anna Maria), Batabano (Spanish: Golfo de Batabano ), Gonave (Spanish: Golfo de Gonave).

The Caribbean Sea is very rich in islands. General group Caribbean Islands united under the name “Antilles Archipelago” (Spanish: Antillas archipiēlago) or “West Indies” (Spanish: West India archipiēlago). The archipelago is divided into island groups: Greater Antilles and Lesser Antilles (Netherlands), and Bahamas(Spanish: Bahamas).

The Greater Antilles, which are mainly of continental origin and located in the northern part of the sea, include the following: large islands like Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. Small Antilles(divided depending on their location to the northeast trade wind into Windward and Leeward) are mainly of volcanic or coral origin.

Among the many small islands of this group, the following can be distinguished: the famous Bahamas; distinctive Turks and Caicos; Virgin Islands, divided between the US and UK; exotic Antigua and Barbuda; open to the omnipresent Guadeloupe; the island of Martinique (French Martinique), known as the birthplace of Josephine de Beauharnais (French Joséphine de Beauharnais), the first wife of Napoleon I; as well as Grenada, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago; and finally Dominica, the largest of the Windward Islands. Perhaps it is necessary to mention the island of Curacao, which “gave” its name to the popular liqueur.

Tourist paradise

The extraordinary popularity of the Caribbean among tourists is easily explained: warm sea all year round, fabulously beautiful nature, a decent level of service, a wide selection of hotels (for every taste and budget) and a huge “menu” of all kinds of entertainment: interesting excursions, an abundance of historical and natural attractions, water and land sports, restaurants, discos, nightclubs.

A distinctive feature of the Caribbean region is a large selection of various holiday options: each state here has its own “specialization”.

For example, in Barbados English has become firmly entrenched in life. national traditions, the holiday here is mostly measured and calm.

Known as the "spice island", Grenada is home to many museums, botanical gardens, historical sites and stunning white beaches.

Magnificent hotels the highest level, excellent diving conditions and the famous SPA centers of Turks and Caicos attract the attention of respectable visitors.

Saint Lucia bears the proud title of “Garden Island”, being one of the most beautiful islands Caribbean Sea. As if in contrast to this, in the Caribbean Sea there is also the desert island of Aruba, with luxurious hotels and enchanting nightlife.

The Bahamas offers tourists all kinds of accommodation options, from secluded small hotels to noisy, bustling hotel complexes.

And in Curacao it’s simply impossible not to stop by one of the many bars to order a glass of the delicious blue drink!

Bottom relief

The bottom relief of the sea is characterized by unevenness - numerous rises and depressions, underwater ridges, the bottom is conventionally divided into 5 main basins: Grenada (4120 m), Colombian (4532 m), Venezuelan (5420 m), Yucatan (5055 m) and Bartlett, with the deep-sea Cayman trench (7090 m, this is the deepest underwater volcanic fault in the world). The Caribbean is considered seismically active; underwater earthquakes are common here, often causing tsunamis.

The deep seabed is covered with calcareous foraminiferal silts and clays.

Flora and fauna

Vegetable and animal world The Caribbean is extraordinarily rich and diverse. Extensive coral structures are typical tropical coral communities of living organisms. Huge variety and Amazing beauty forms water world attract connoisseurs of underwater landscapes and the most sophisticated divers from all over the world and amaze with their splendor. Although the local flora is not distinguished in quantitative terms, it is characterized by a rich species composition. In the Caribbean Sea you can find entire underwater fields of macroalgae. In shallow waters, vegetation is mainly concentrated in coral reef areas. Here you can find algae such as tortoiseshell thalassia (Latin: Thalassia lestudinum), Cymodoceaceae (Latin: Cymodoceaceae), and sea rumpia (Latin: Ruppia maritima). Chlorophyll algae grow in deep sea areas. Macroalgae of the Caribbean Sea are represented by dozens of different species.

Phytoalgae are very poorly represented here, as in all tropical seas.

The fauna of the sea is richer and more diverse than the plant life. Various fish, marine mammals and all kinds of bottom-dwelling animals live here.

The bottom Caribbean fauna is represented by numerous sea snakes, worms, mollusks (gastropods, cephalopods, bivalves, etc.), various crustaceans (crustaceans, crabs, lobsters, etc.) and echinoderms (urchins, starfish). Coelenterates consist of a rich spectrum of coral polyps (including reef-forming ones) and all kinds of jellyfish.

The Caribbean Sea is home to sea turtles, including the green turtle, the loggerhead turtle, the hawksbill turtle, and the Atlantic ridley, the smallest and fastest-growing sea turtle. When famous at the beginning of the 16th century. crossed the Caribbean Sea in the area of ​​​​the present-day Cayman Islands, the path of his ships was literally blocked by an immense herd of green turtles. Amazed by the abundance of these sea animals, Columbus named the group of islands he discovered “Las Tortugas” (Spanish: Las Tortugas - “turtles”).

For centuries, turtles served as a source of food for travelers, sailors, pirates and whalers off Las Tortugas. But this beautiful name, unfortunately, did not take root, just as the once countless turtle herds did not survive. As a result of thoughtless human activity (uncontrolled fishing for many years, destruction of turtle egg-laying grounds, ruthless sea pollution), where in the old days sailboats had difficulty making their way through a dense barrier of teeming turtle shells, it is now not easy to meet even one individual.

Marine mammals also make their home in the warm, gentle waters of the Caribbean. Large cetaceans (sperm whales, humpback whales) and several dozen species of smaller dolphins are found here. Pinnipeds are also found here, which are mainly represented by gaptooths (lat. Solenodontidae) - small mammals that live on some islands. In ancient times, many monk seals lived in the Caribbean Sea; today this species is extinct.

The Caribbean fauna is infinitely diverse! Once did not exist, just a few thousand years ago the water connection of the world's great oceans - the Pacific and the Atlantic - was disrupted, so the diversity of the Caribbean fauna is explained by the presence of many Pacific species of animals here.

Almost 500 different species of fish live here, ranging from small schooling and bottom-dwelling representatives of the fish community (moray eels, barracudas, flounder, gobies, rays, flying fish) to large species of fish (sharks, marlin, swordfish, tuna, etc.).

Fishing objects in the sea are mainly sardines, tuna, lobsters; The objects of sport fishing are sharks, marlins, large barracudas and swordfish.

Numerous sharks of the Caribbean Sea are represented by gray sharks (including reef, bull, silky) and various benthic species(nannies, sixgills, squatinids, etc.). Tiger and even white sharks, which are very rare, are also found in coastal waters. IN open waters In the sea you can find hammerhead, blue, whale and long-fin sharks. By the way, the largest of the sharks, the whale shark, never attacks humans; it feeds on plankton and small fish, filtering water through thousands of sharp, small teeth. It is considered the most dangerous for humans White shark