Man has always been attracted to the unknown. And the seas as a component of this mysterious world were especially alluring. Being part of the oceans, they vary in size, depth, time and mode of formation, salinity, each has its own unique flora and fauna.
At the location of the sea are internal, marginal and inter-island. And geologists divide them into those formed in those places where there was a large fault of the earth's crust, and located on continental shoals, which arose when the waters of the oceans flooded the outskirts of the continents.
Scientists still have not come to a common opinion on the number of seas in the world. And the reason for this is the question of what is considered the sea. Does this concept include huge internal reservoirs, for example, the Caspian Sea and the Dead, or is it still a lake? But what about the part of the ocean, which is limited only by currents?
What is the largest sea, and which is the smallest? Which is the deepest and which is the smallest in the world? It has always raised millions of questions.
The largest sea in area is part of the Atlantic Ocean. His name is Sargassovo, and the area is about seven million square kilometers. There are distinctive features peculiar only to him: the largest sea has no coasts, and the Gulf Stream defines its borders, in addition, its waters are the most transparent, and brown algae cover the surface .
The deepest sea in the world is the Philippine. Being the Pacific Ocean inter-island, it is located between the groups of the Japanese and Philippine Islands and the island of Taiwan. Given the Mariana Trench, its (maximum) eleven-kilometer depth broke all records. But those scientists who believe that the sea must have a shore (and Sargassovo does not have it) argue that the Philippine is not only the deepest, but also the largest sea in the world. Its area is more than 5 million square kilometers.
Following the Philippine in the ranking of the deepest seas is Coral. It is also located in the Pacific Ocean and washes Australia, New Guinea and New Caledonia. The maximum depth here is more than nine kilometers. And the main distinguishing feature gave the name to the sea. Countless corals that impede the movement of ships, great depth, and still high water temperature reaching 28 degrees - this is what sets the Coral Sea. The species composition of the inhabitants makes it special: mollusks - more than three thousand species, various fish - two thousand species, echinoderms, including poisonous, dangerous to humans - three hundred species, sharks - in huge numbers.
But as there is the largest sea, the deepest, so scientists have determined the smallest. The last place in the ranking was occupied by the Yellow Sea, which is both the smallest in area (416 thousand square kilometers) and the smallest. It got its name from the color of water. It is the yellow streams that the Chinese rivers carry to the sea and the storms of the same color carry dust, the strength of which can even stop shipping for a while.
As for the level of salinity, the largest sea is far from the most salty. Here the palm went to the Red Sea. It was it that, without an external influx of fresh river flows, over many years concentrated the largest amount of salt in its waters. This made it not only the salty, but also one of the warmest with its amazing flora and fauna of the aquatic world.
The unlimited power of the sea, which gives us a means of survival and is capable of destroying the elements, has always awakened the creative principle in man. Fairy tales were composed about the sea, paintings were written, poems dedicated to him. And the secrets of the seabed will be the subject of study by the best scientists of the whole world for many years to come.