If I Could Sail the Seven Seas Quiz

Answer: Alboran Sea

The Alboran Sea forms the western edge of the Mediterranean Sea and extends from the Strait of Gibraltar to Alboran Island where the Balearic Sea begins. Traditionally, sardine and anchovy catches have been important to the Alboran but with overfishing, the use of drift nets, and present day tourism on the Iberian peninsula and other causes of pollution, that fishery is now threatened.

Phoenician navigators were the first to sail the sea during the first millennium and they colonized Mauritania by using it. The Carthaginians and Romans followed.

On the southern shore of the sea will be found thuya forests, an endangered and ancient conifer, as well as the rare Barbary leopard. The northern eco-region contains the endangered Iberian lynx as well as the Imperial eagle and more.

Answer: Kattegat

The Kattegat is a shallow sea lying east of Jutland and west of Sweden, named "Kattegut" in medieval times by Dutch traders. (Translation: cat and gate, indicating something so narrow as only a cat could slip through the passage.) It is less salty than are the surrounding waters because of the inflow of the water from the Baltic Sea which is somewhat brackish due to the inflow of several major European rivers. The Kattegat's top three fish caught commercially are the European plaice, the Atlantic herring and the Atlantic cod, in that order, although there are other species caught as well. Additionally, the European otter and the Harbor porpoise can be found in its waters. In its tidal lands and swamps, one will find many different types of animals, some who are endangered or threatened, such as endangered European mink and the threatened great bustard.

It is commonly assumed by historians that the Vikings used the passage and, in the 1940s, the invasion of Norway was launched by Germany via the Kattegut.

Answer: Arafura Sea

The shallow, tropical, Arafura Sea is bordered on the east by the Torres Strait; to the west by the Timor Sea; to the south by the Gulf of Carpentaria, and to the north and west by the Banda and Ceran Seas. It is described as being one of the waters of the East Indian Archipelago. It is a breeding ground for tropical cyclones. It was named after a Moluccan word meaning "children of the mountains" according to Dutch mariners who sailed her in the early 1800's.

At the time of the last glaciation, it was a part of the continent of Sahul, along with the land under the Strait of Torres and the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Although the Arafura is one of the richest fisheries in the world, it needs to be protected from illegal fishing. With that in mind, in 2002 the Arafura and Timor Seas Export Forum has been founded with the idea of promoting only environmentally and economical management of the sea.

Answer: Bismarck Sea

The Bismarck Sea, named after the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, lies to the north of the island of Papua New Guinea and south and east of the Bismarck Archipelago which somewhat separates it from the Pacific Ocean.

Recent explorations in the calm, shallow, seabed have turned up various minerals, the mining rights of which will be the property of Papua New Guinea.

During WW II, the Japanese were defeated in a major battle, now known as the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. The first US ship to have the name "Argonaut", a submarine, was sunk by the Japanese during that battle.

Answer: Levantine Sea

The Levantine Sea is not only the most eastern portion of the Mediterranean it is also the most salty. (It is sometimes referred to as the Levant Sea.) It is bounded by Egypt, Libya, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Crete, as well as by the Aegean Sea which lies to its northwest. In Crete and Libya, this area of saline water is known as the Libyan Sea and the northern part, between Cyprus and Turkey is called the Cilician Sea.

Because of the millennia of human habitation along with scant rainfall and high temperatures, there is macro-botanical evidence that harmful effects of human habitation were shown as early as 3000 BC. The land along the Levantine Sea holds various pines, oaks and "maquis", which is composed of sclerophyllous vegetation such as olive, pistachio, carob, myrtle, laurel and roughly three dozen other species.

Answer: Sea of Marmara

The Sea of Marmara (also Marmora) was known in antiquity as the Propontis and is a brackish, inland, sea approximately only two-thirds as salty, overall, as an average open sea. The bottom waters are so much more dense and saline than are the top waters that they rarely circulate up to the surface.

Marmara can be looked upon as a part of the border between Europe and Asia. It is a bit under 4,400 square miles and is entirely within the borders of Turkey. Its name comes from the island of Marmara which has extensive marble deposits. The Greek word for "marble" is "marmara". The North Anatolian Fault, the cause of many earthquakes such as the Izmit Quake of 1999, lies under the Sea.

Answer: Laccadive Sea

The warm Laccadive Sea, sometimes known as the Lakshadweep Sea after the islands of that name, borders India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. A part of it, the Gulf of Mannar, is famed for its pearl banks. Even Pliny the Elder called it the most productive in the world and he may have been correct since pearls are still being taken from the Gulf unlike other banks where it is not economically feasible to fish for natural pearls. Tuna and shark are the species most caught in the sea, whereas perch, needlefish and others are caught by the reefs.

The Gulf of Mannar, itself, was named a Biosphere Reserve in 1989.

Answer: Lincoln Sea

The Lincoln Sea stretches from Cape Columbia, Canada, to Cape Morris Jesup in Greenland. Throughout the year it has the thickest sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, up to 49 feet thick. It was named by Adolphus W. Greeley on his expedition to Lady Franklin Bay in 1881 to 1884.

The only population center on its shores is Alert, Nunavut, the most northerly town in Canada. There is an ongoing, albeit amicable, border dispute between Greenland and Canada because of Beaumont Island, virtually a rock sticking out of the sea.

Answer: Seto Inland Sea

The Seto Inland Sea (sometimes just Inland Sea) separates three of the four main islands of Japan, Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku and connects the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan, as well as providing a marine link to industrial centers such as Osaka and Kobe. It is often plagued with "red tides", caused by masses of phytoplankton, causing the deaths of many fish.

The Seto Inland Sea is quite shallow, ranging from 122 feet to 344 feet. Although there are almost 3,000 islands in the Inland Sea, it is only about 280 miles long and ranges from a bit over 9 to 34 miles wide. There are over 500 species that live in the sea, even the great white shark. In prior times, whales entered to feed or breed, but now the only whales to come in are probably lost. Whaling and pollution have taken their tolls.

The coastal areas of the Inland sea have ship construction, steel and old production and oil refineries, as well as other factories, which make these areas the most industrialized in Japan. A series of bridges have been built which allows more rail and road transportation of goods and people, somewhat lessening the need for the water transport in some areas. However, from ancient times the Seto Inland Sea has been used for transport and even held various private navies, which were often simply bands of "suigun", or pirates.

The Seto Inland Sea, and places along its shore, has been written about since the 8th century. In 1991 a film version of Richie's travelogue "The Inland Sea" was made that won a number of awards. In 1992 it was shown at Sundance Film Festival.

Answer: Barents Sea

The Barents Sea is located north of Norway and Russia and was named for the Dutch navigator, Willem Barents, who explored the far north in the late 1600s. In the middle ages it was known as the Murman Sea, Murman being what the Russians called the Norwegians. Oil exploration began in the 1970s and both Russian and Norway have found large fields, the largest of which is the Russian Shtokman field.

Because of the warm North Atlantic Drift, the south half of the Barents Sea stays ice-free year round. The three types of water found in the Barents are warm, salty, Atlantic water, cold Arctic water, and warm but not very saline coastal water. Even the polar bear in the Barents is a little different genetically than polar bear elsewhere.

Because of the Drift, the fisheries are also different, and are more fruitful than others at the same latitude. The cod fisheries are especially important to both Russia and Norway.

During the Second World War the US sent Lend-Lease supplies and material to Russia via the ice-free Barents sea, landing at Murmansk or Archangel.