WHERE IS THE SARGASSO SEA?
Sargasso Sea is an irregular oval shaped area of the North Atlantic Ocean. No land boundaries of any kind mark off this body of water from the rest of the open ocean. It is set apart only by the presence of marine plants, or seaweed, which float on its surface.
The center of the Sargasso Sea is about 2,000 miles west of the Canary Islands, and it lies roughly between the 20th and 40th parallels of north latitude and between the 35th and 75th meridians west of Greenwich.
The area has slow moving ocean currents. It is surrounded by a boundary of rapidly moving currents that include the Gulf Stream and the North Equatorial Current.
The Sargasso Sea derives its name from (ital) saxgaco, (unital) one of the Portuguese words for seaweed. The word originally meant grape, because the small floats on some seaweeds resemble grapes.
Christopher Columbus is given credit for the first reliable report on this region. He sounded the Sargasso Sea in 1492 to make sure that no rocks lay beneath the weeds.
Early navigators who sailed their ships to North America saw the Sargasso Sea as patches of gulfweed that seemed to form wide spreading meadows. Soon there were legends and myths about the region that told of large islands of thickly matted seaweed inhabited by huge monsters of the deep. Poets and novelists used their imagination in describing the sea.
The region covers about 2 million square miles. Scientists believe that the seaweed first came from the shores of the West Indies, after it had been torn loose by wind and wave. Some of it became adapted to living and growing in the open sea.
The seaweed developed a method of reproduction that enables it to multiply and grow without producing seeds. Waves break off sections of the mature plants. These fragments then grow into full size plants in the same way that a cutting of a grape plant grows into a new grapevine.
The seaweeds in the Sargasso Sea axe supported by air sacks that resemble tiny grapes, and grow as a part of the weeds. Saxgassum weeds grow fn many ocean regions. One variety is used as food in Japan.
Many small marine animals have adapted themselves to growing on and among the weeds. These animals include tiny crabs, shrimp and barnacles. There are also many fish, most of which have taken on the colors and patterns of the weeds.
The greatest quantity of seaweed is found in the center part of the Sargasso Sea. Some patches may cover more than one acre. Nowhere, however, is the region so thickly covered that the weeds can interfere with the movements of a ship.
The water of the Sargasso Sea has an unusually deep blue color. The water also is extremely clear; it has a high salt content and a high temperature that at times can reach 83 degrees Fahrenheit. These features result chiefly from the location of the sea and its great