Levantine Sea
General data
- Water type: Sae
- Progression: Mediterranean Sea -> Atlantic Ocean -> Planet Earth
- Climates: Tropical, Subtropical
- Continents: Africa, Europe, Asia
- Countries: Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Turkey
Description
The Levantine Sea is the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Sea. The Levantine Sea is bordered by Turkey in the north and north-east corner, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Gaza Strip in the east, Egypt in the south, and the Aegean Sea in the northwest. Where it is used as a term its western border is amorphous hence Mediterranean is more commonly used. The open western border to the next part of the Mediterranean (the Libyan Sea) is defined as a line from headland Ras al-Helal in Libya to Gavdos, south of the western half of Crete. The largest island in its subset of water is Cyprus. The greatest depth of 4,384 m (14,383 ft) is found in the Pliny Trench, about 80 km (50 mi) south of Crete. The Levantine Sea covers 320,000 km2 (120,000 sq mi). The northern part of the Levantine Sea between Cyprus and Turkey can be further specified as the Cilician Sea, a term more arcane. Also in the north are two large bays, the Gulf of İskenderun (to the northeast) and the Gulf of Antalya (to the northwest). To the west of the Levantine Deep Marine Basin is the Nile Delta Basin, followed by the Herodotus Basin, 130,000 km2 (50,000 sq mi) large and up to 3,200 m (10,500 ft) deep, which – at a possible age of 340 million years – is believed to be the oldest known ocean crust worldwide. Ecology The Suez Canal was completed in 1869, linking the Levantine Sea to the Red Sea – and mainly for large vessels. The Red Sea sits a little higher than the Eastern Mediterranean, so the canal is an intermittent tidal strait discharging water into the Mediterranean. The Bitter Lakes – hypersaline natural lakes, interacting with the canal – were a bar to migration of Red Sea species northward for many decades, but as their salinity has virtually equalized with that of the Red Sea, the barrier to migration was removed, and plants and animals from the Red Sea have begun to colonize the eastern Mediterranean. This is the Lessepsian migration, after Ferdinand de Lesseps, the chief engineer of the canal. Most of the river discharge is from the Nile. Since the Aswan High Dam sits across the river in the 1960s it has facilitated the multiplication of Egyptian agriculture and population. It has reduced, to the sea, the flow of freshwater, mountainous minerals in the silt, and the distance traveled by silt (before this, borne by floodwater). This makes the sea slightly saltier and nutrient-poorer than before. This has decimated the morning sardine litorine haul in nets but favored many Red Sea species.
Syngnathiformes - Pipefishes and Seahorses
Anguilliformes - Eels and morays
Moroniformes - Temperate basses
Mugiliformes - Mullets
Clupeiformes - Herrings
Perciformes - Perches
Spariformes - Breams and porgies
Carangiformes - Jacks
Beloniformes - Needlefishes
Labriformes - Wrasses
Scombriformes - Mackerels
Scorpaeniformes - Mail-cheeked fishes
Mulliformes - Goatfishes
Istiophoriformes - Barracudas
Aulopiformes - Grinners
Gobiiformes - Gobies
Gadiformes - Cods
Lamniformes - Mackerel sharks
Carcharhiniformes - Ground sharks
Orectolobiformes - Carpet shark
Elopiformes - Tarpons and tenpounders
Myliobatiformes - Stingrays
Acanthuriformes - Surgeonfishes
Zeiformes - Dories
Tetraodontiformes - Puffers and filefishes
Holocentriformes - Squirrelfishes
Dactylopteriformes - Flying gurnards
Lophiiformes - Anglerfishes
Lampriformes - Lamprids
Squaliformes - Sleeper and dogfish sharks
Trachiniformes - Weeverfishes
Centrarchiformes - Basses and sunfishes
Rajiformes - Skates and rays
Acipenseriformes - Sturgeons and Paddlefish
Cyprinodontiformes - Toothcarps
Notacanthiformes - Spiny eels
Saccopharyngiformes - Swallowers and Gulpers
Gonorynchiformes - Milkfishes
Argentiniformes - Marine smelts
Myctophiformes - Lanternfishes
Stylephoriformes - Tube-eyes
Beryciformes - Sawbellies
Ophidiiformes - Cusk-eels
Kurtiformes - Nurseryfishes & Cardinalfishes
Acropomatiformes - Oceanic basses
Pleuronectiformes - Flatfishes
Blenniiformes - Blennies
Atheriniformes - Silversides
Siluriformes - Catfishes
Callionymiformes - Dragonets
Gobiesociformes - Clingfishes
Hexanchiformes - Six-gill sharks
Rhinopristiformes - Shovelnose rays
Catches
