Sea
Sargasso Sea
The Sargasso Sea is a huge patch of the North Atlantic Ocean that has no coast at all. Instead of land, four ocean currents form its edges, and golden seaweed floats on its deep blue water.
Where is Sargasso Sea?
Part of: Atlantic Ocean.
The story behind it
The Sargasso Sea is the only named sea without a land boundary. The Gulf Stream, the North Atlantic Current, the Canary Current and the North Atlantic Equatorial Current flow around it like a slowly turning wheel. Because these currents move, nobody can measure the sea exactly: estimates range from about 3.5 to more than 5 million km². Its water is very clear, and divers can sometimes see 60 metres down. Brown Sargassum seaweed drifts on the surface, held up by tiny air-filled bubbles. Baby sea turtles hide and feed in these floating mats, and the sargassum fish is so well camouflaged that it looks just like the weed. European and American eels swim all the way across the ocean to lay their eggs here. When Christopher Columbus sailed through in 1492, some of his sailors feared the seaweed would trap their ships. The islands of Bermuda lie near its western edge.
Find it on the globe
Sargasso Sea is there as a name written across its water — tap the water and its card opens. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
Questions children ask
How big is the Sargasso Sea?
It covers about 5.2 million km², roughly 1 100 km wide and 3 200 km long. Because its edges are moving currents, other estimates are smaller, so the size is never exact.
How can a sea have no coast?
The Sargasso Sea lies in the middle of the North Atlantic, far from any continent. Its borders are four ocean currents that circle around it.
Why do eels travel to the Sargasso Sea?
European and American eels are born in the Sargasso Sea. When they are grown up, they swim all the way back across the ocean to lay their own eggs there.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
Last checked: