The Sea of Okhotsk covers 611,000 sq.mi. (1,583,000 km). The average depth is 2,818 feet (859 metres). Its maximum depth is 11,063 feet (3,372 metres). It is connected to the Sea of Japan on the west through the Sakhalin Gulf and the Gulf of Tartary; on the south, through the La Pérouse Strait.
In winter, travelling on the Sea of Okhotsk becomes difficult, or even impossible, due tolarge ice floes.
Except for Hokkaidō, one of the Japanese home islands, the sea is surrounded on all sides by land of the Russian Federation. For this reason, it is generally said to be part of Russia.
Some of the Sea of Okhotsk's islands are quite large. These include Japan's second largest island, Hokkaidō, as well as Russia's largest island, Sakhalin. Iony Island is the only island in open waters. It belongs to the Khabarovsk Krai of the Russian Federation. Most of the sea's islands are have no people making them ideal breeding grounds for seals, sea lions, seabirds, and other sea island fauna.
Solomon Sea
The Solomon Sea is a sea in the Pacific Ocean. It is between Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Many major battles were fought there during World War II.
The Solomon Sea includes the New Britain Trench. It reaches its maximum depth at 29,988 feet (9,140 m) below sea level.
Sulu Sea
Sulu Sea has a number of islands. The Cuyo Islands and Cagayan Sulu are part of the province of Palawan while Mapun and the Turtle Islands are part of the province of Tawi-Tawi. The Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park, one of the World Heritage Sites, is in Sulu.
Jingū Seamount
The seamount is also known as the "Jingū Guyot" because it has a flat top. This undersea geologic feature is also called a "guyot" or "tablemount".
This seabed mountain is named after Empress Jingū of Japan.
The last eruption from Jingū seamount was 55 million years ago.
African forest elephant
The African forest elephant ("Loxodonta cyclotis") is an elephant which lives in the forests of the Congo Basin.
It is often considered a separate species from the African bush elephant ("Loxodonta africana"); a 2010 study said that the two elephants were two different species. However, since the two groups can interbreed successfully, they may only be separate subspecies of "Loxodonta africana". They are probably forest elephants whose small size is adapted to the rainforest conditions.
The differences include that the African forest elephant has a long, narrow mandible (the African bush elephant's is short and wide), it has rounded ears (an African bush elephant's ears are more pointed), straighter and downward tusks, smaller size, and more toenails. The male African forest elephant rarely grows more than 2.5 metres (8 ft) in height, while the African bush elephant is usually over 3 metres (just under 10 feet) and sometimes almost 4 metres (13 ft) tall. The African bush elephant normally has 4 toenails on the frontfoot and 3 on the hindfoot, the African forest elephant normally has 5 toenails on the frontfoot and 4 on the hindfoot (like the Asian elephant).
The African forest elephant is a herbivore (plant eater) and commonly eats leaves, grass, fruit, and bark, and sometimes visits places where it can lick salt.
Amundsen Sea
The Amundsen Sea is an arm of the Southern Ocean off Marie Byrd Land in western Antarctica. It is bounded by Cape Flying Fish, the northwestern tip of Thurston Island to the east and Cape Dart on Siple Island to the west. East of Cape Flying Fish starts the Bellingshausen Sea. The sea is named for the Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen.
The sea is mostly ice-covered. The ice sheet which drains into the Amundsen Sea averages about in thickness. It is roughly the size of the state of Texas. The area is known as the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE). It forms one of the three major ice drainage basins of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Pine Island Bay () is a bay about long and wide. The ice of the Pine Island Glacier at the southeast end of the Amundsen Sea flows into it. It was named for USS "Pine Island".
Russell Bay () is a rather open bay in southwestern Amundsen Sea. It goes along the north sides of Siple Island, Getz Ice Shelf and Carney Island, from Pranke Island to Cape Gates. It is named for Admiral James S. Russell, USN, Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
Great Australian Bight
The Great Australian Bight is a large bight, or open bay. It is off the central and western parts of the southern coastline of mainland Australia.
The Bight's boundaries are from Cape Pasley, Western Australia, to Cape Carnot, South Australia. This is a distance of 1,160 km or 720 miles.
The much more accepted name in Australia for the connected waterbody is the Southern Ocean rather than the Indian Ocean.
The settlements along the coastline with access to the Bight and facilities are Ceduna and Eucla. Some other locations on the Eyre Highway or on the Nullarbor do not have facilities or easy access.
The coast line of the Great Australian Bight has cliff faces (up to 60 m high), surfing beaches and rock platforms, ideal for whale-watching. The Great Australian Bight receives very little of the runoff that fertilises most continental shelves. It is essentially a marine desert. It is probably best noted for the large number of sharks that frequent its coastal waters, as well as the increasing numbers of Southern Right Whales that migrate in the region.
One location on the bight that is for the understanding of the natural history on its coastline is the Eyre Bird Observatory.
Ross Sea
The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land.
The Ross Sea was discovered by James Ross in 1841. In the west of the Ross Sea is Ross Island. In the east is Roosevelt Island. The southern part is covered by the Ross Ice Shelf. In the west of the Ross sea, McMurdo Sound is a port which is usually free of ice during the summer. The southernmost part of the Ross Sea is Gould Coast, which is about two hundred miles from the Geographic South Pole.
All land masses in the Ross Sea are claimed by New Zealand.
A 10 metre (32.8 feet) long colossal squid weighing 495 kilograms (1,091 lb) was captured in the Ross Sea on February 22, 2007.
The flora and fauna are similar to other southern Antarctic marine regions. In summer there are a lot of plankton. They provide food for larger species, such as fish, seals, whales, and sea- and shore-birds.
The coastal parts of the sea have a number of rookeries of Adélie and Emperor penguins. They have been seen at a number of places around the Ross Sea, both towards the coast and outwards in open sea.
The Ross Sea is one of the last parts of seas on Earth that is mostly unaffected by human activities. Because of this, it is almost totally free from pollution, overfishing and the introduction of invasive species. Some people want to make the area a world marine reserve.
Ōjin Seamount
The seamount is also known as the "Ōjin Guyot" because it has a flat top. This undersea geologic feature is also called a "guyot" or "tablemount".
This seabed mountain is named after Emperor Ōjin of Japan.
The last eruption from Ōjin seamount was 55 million years ago.
Scotia Sea
The Scotia Sea is partly in the Southern Ocean and mostly in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Normally stormy and cold, the Scotia Sea is the area of water between Tierra del Fuego, South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands, South Orkney Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. It is bordered on the west by Drake Passage. These island groups all sit on top of the Scotia Ridge. The Scotia Sea covers an area of about 900,000 km². About half of the sea stands above the continental shelf.
The islands are rocky and partly covered in ice and snow year round.