Facts about red sea

 

The Red Sea is a gulf or basin of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb sound and the Gulf of Aden. In the north is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of Suez (leading to the Suez Canal).

1.      The Red Sea is a gulf or basin of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia.

2.      The sea is roughly 1900 km long and at its widest is over 300 km.

3.      The sea floor has a maximum depth of 2,500 m in the central median trench and an average depth of 500 m, but it also has extensive shallow shelves, noted for their marine life and corals.

4.      The sea has a surface area of roughly 438,000 or 450,000 km². The sea is the habitat of over 1000 invertebrate species and 200 soft and hard corals.

5.      The sea occupies a part of the Great Rift Valley.

6.      The sea was called the "Arabian Gulf" in most European sources up to the 20th century. This was derived from older Greek sources. Herodotus, Straban and Ptolemy all call the waterway "Arabicus Sinus", while reserving the term "Sea of Erythrias" (Red Sea) for the waters around the southern Arabian Peninsula, now known as Indian Ocean. Sea came from a mistranslation of what should have been the Reed Sea.

8.      The name of the sea does not indicate a real red colour, as the seawater is actually blue when viewed afar, and transparent when held in hand. It may signify the seasonal blooms of the red-coloured cyanobacteria Trichodesmium erythraeum near the water surface.

9.      Surface water temperatures remain relatively constant at 21-25°C and temperature and visibility remain good to around 200 m, but the sea is known for its strong winds and tricky local currents.

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