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Caribbean Sea Facts

Caribbean Sea Facts
The Caribbean Sea is located in the Atlantic Ocean, bordered by Central America and Mexico, the Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles, and South America's north coast. The Caribbean Sea is one of the world's largest at roughly 1,063,000 square miles in size. The Caribbean Sea is home to the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef - the second largest barrier reef in the world. The name Caribbean is derived from the Caribs, a Native American group that was present when the European explorers began to arrive in the late 1400s. For a few centuries the Caribbean Sea was referred to as the North Sea and South Sea. The sea became a major transportation route as the Europeans quickly colonized the region.
Interesting Caribbean Sea Facts:
The deepest part of the Caribbean Sea is the Cayman Trench, located between Jamaica and Cuba. It has an average depth of 2200 meters with a deepest point of 7500 meters below the surface.
Nations bordering the Caribbean Sea include Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Bahamas, Suriname, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, St. Lucia, Columbia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Nicaragua, Dominica, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, United States, Honduras, Grenada, Haiti, Guatemala, and Guyana.
It is estimated that 14% of the coral reefs in the world are located in the Caribbean Sea.
The average temperature of the Caribbean Sea is 27 degrees Celsius, and it doesn't vary more than 3 degrees.
There are several gulfs and bays along the Caribbean Sea's shore including the Gulf of Venezuela, the Gulf of Gonave, the Golfo de los Mosquitos, the Gulf of Darien, the Gulf of Paria, and the Gulf of Honduras.
Within the Caribbean Sea's waters are over 7,000 islands. These islands belong to 28 nations.
The Bahamas is the Caribbean nation with the most islands, at roughly 700.
The largest island in the Caribbean Sea is Cuba, at 42,426 square miles.
Due to the effects of global warming, the Caribbean Sea's coral reef is threatened. The reefs provide an annual income of between $3.1 and $4.6 billion to the Caribbean nations through tourism, diving, and fishing.
There are more than 1,000 known fish species that can be found in the Caribbean Sea. Some of these include flying fish, moray eels, bull sharks, tiger sharks, Caribbean reef sharks, giant oceanic manta rays, and parrotfish, among many others.
The Caribbean Sea is home to 90 mammal species, including dolphins, sperm whales, manatees, humpback whales, and seals, among many others.
It is estimated that the Caribbean Sea is between 160 and 180 million years old. It is believed to have formed when a horizontal fracture occurred and split Pangea during the Mesozoic Era.
The Caribbean Sea provides approximately 170 million tons of oil every year, making it one of the largest oil producing regions in the world.
Many famous works of literature by celebrated authors, and several feature films have focused on the Caribbean Sea and its islands, including Pirates of the Caribbean, and works by authors such as Earnest Hemmingway.


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