- Source: List of seas on Earth
This is a list of seas of the World Ocean, including marginal seas, areas of water, various gulfs, bights, bays, and straits. In many cases it is a matter of tradition for a body of water to be named a sea or a bay, etc., therefore all these types are listed here.
Terminology
Ocean – the four to seven largest named bodies of water in the World Ocean, all of which have "Ocean" in the name (see: Borders of the oceans for details).
Sea has several definitions:
A division of an ocean, delineated by landforms, currents (e.g., Sargasso Sea), or specific latitude or longitude boundaries. This includes but is not limited to marginal seas, and this is the definition used for inclusion in this list.
A marginal sea is a division of an ocean, partially enclosed by islands, archipelagos, or peninsulas, adjacent to or widely open to the open ocean at the surface, and/or bounded by submarine ridges on the sea floor.
The World Ocean. For example, the Law of the Sea states that all of the World Ocean is "sea", and this is also common usage for "the sea".
Any large body of water with "Sea" in the name, including lakes.
River – a narrow strip of water that flows over land from a higher elevation to a lower one
Tributary – a small river that flows into a larger one
Estuary – the piece of a river that flows into the sea or ocean
Strait – a narrow area of water connecting two wider areas of water, also sometimes known as a passage
Channel – usually wider than a strait
Passage – connects waters between islands, also sometimes known as a strait
Canal – a human-made channel
Fjard – a large open water between groups of islands
There are several terms used for bulges of ocean that result from indentations of land, which overlap in definition, and which are not consistently differentiated:
Bay – generic term; though most features with "Bay" in the name are small, some are very large
Gulf – a very large bay, often a top-level division of an ocean or sea
Fjord – a long bay with steep sides, typically formed by a glacier
Bight – a bay that is typically shallower than a sound
Sound – a large, wide bay which is typically deeper than a bight, or a strait
Cove – a small, typically sheltered bay with a relatively narrow entrance
Inlet – a narrow and long bay similar to a land peninsula, but adjoining the sea
Polynya – least used of these terms, a patch of water surrounded by ice
Many features could be considered to be more than one of these, and all of these terms are used in place names inconsistently; especially bays, gulfs, and bights, which can be very large or very small. This list includes large areas of water no matter the term used in the name.
Largest seas by area
The largest terrestrial seas, in decreasing order of area, are:
Marginal seas by ocean
Seas may be considered marginal between ocean and land, or between oceans in which case they may be treated as marginal parts of either. There is no single ultimate authority on the matter.
= Arctic Ocean
=(clockwise from 180°)
Chukchi Sea
East Siberian Sea
Laptev Sea
Kara Sea
Barents Sea (connected to the Kara Sea by the Kara Strait)
Pechora Sea
White Sea
Queen Victoria Sea
Wandel Sea
Greenland Sea
Lincoln Sea (recognized by the IHO but not the IMO)
Baffin Bay
The Northwest Passages
Prince Gustaf Adolf Sea
Amundsen Gulf
Hudson Bay
Foxe Basin
Bowman Bay
Wager Bay
Roes Welcome Sound
Foxe Channel
Bay of Gods Mercy
Hudson Strait
Ungava Bay
Native Bay
Evans Strait
Fisher Strait
James Bay
Beaufort Sea
= Atlantic Ocean
=In addition to the marginal seas listed in the three subsections below, the Arctic Ocean itself is sometimes also considered a marginal sea of the Atlantic.
Africa and Eurasia
Norwegian Sea
North Sea
Kattegat
Skagerrak
Wadden Sea
Dogger Bank
Baltic Sea
Gulf of Bothnia
Kvarken
Bothnian Sea
South Kvarken
Sea of Åland
Archipelago Sea
Gulf of Finland
Vyborg Bay
Neva Bay
Koporye Bay
Luga Bay
Narva Bay
Väinameri Sea
Gulf of Riga
Curonian Lagoon
Vistula Lagoon
Gdańsk Bay
Bay of Pomerania
Szczecin Lagoon
Bay of Greifswald
Rügischer Bodden
Strelasund
Bay of Lübeck
Bay of Kiel
Kalmar Strait
Bight of Hanö
Danish straits
Oresund Strait
Fehmarn Belt
Great Belt
Little Belt
English Channel
Strait of Dover
Irish Sea
Celtic Sea
Iroise Sea
Bay of Biscay
Cantabrian Sea
Gulf of Cádiz
Mediterranean Sea
Alboran Sea
Mar Menor
Balearic (Catalan) Sea
Gulf of Valencia
Gulf of Lion
Étang de Thau
Ligurian Sea
Gulf of Genoa
Tyrrhenian Sea
Gulf of Naples
Gulf of Salerno
Gulf of Cagliari
Adriatic Sea
Bay of Kotor
Kvarner Gulf
Gulf of Venice
Gulf of Trieste
Venetian Lagoon
Gulf of Manfredonia
Ionian Sea
Gulf of Taranto
Straits of Corfu
Ambracian Gulf
Gulf of Patras
Gulf of Corinth
Gulf of Kyparissia
Messenian Gulf
Laconian Gulf
Aegean Sea
Myrtoan Sea
Argolic Gulf
Saronic Gulf
Petalioi Gulf
South Euboean Gulf
North Euboean Gulf
Malian Gulf
Pagasetic Gulf
Thermaic Gulf
Thracian Sea
Strymonian Gulf
Gulf of Saros
Edremit Gulf
Gulf of İzmir
Icarian Sea
Gulf of Gökova
Sea of Crete
Sea of Marmara
Gulf of İzmit
Levantine Sea
Gulf of Antalya
Gulf of Alexandretta
Libyan Sea
Gulf of Sidra
Gulf of Gabès
Strait of Sicily
Gulf of Tunis
Inland Sea, Gozo
Sea of Sardinia
Gulf of Asinara
Black Sea
Gulf of Burgas
Karkinit Bay
Kalamita Bay
Sea of Azov
Syvash
Taganrog Bay
Bay of Arguin
Dakhlet Nouadhibou
Yawri Bay
Gulf of Guinea
Bight of Benin
Bight of Biafra
Corisco Bay
Luanda Bay
Walvis Bay
Saldanha Bay
Table Bay
False Bay
Americas
(coast-wise from north to south)
North Water Polynya
Baffin Bay
Davis Strait
Home Bay
Labrador Sea
Cumberland Sound
Frobisher Bay
Gulf of St. Lawrence
Gulf of Maine
Bay of Fundy
Massachusetts Bay
Cape Cod Bay
Nantucket Sound
Vineyard Sound
Buzzards Bay
Narragansett Bay
Rhode Island Sound
Block Island Sound
Fishers Island Sound
Long Island Sound
Shelter Island Sound
Noyack Bay
Peconic Bay
Gardiners Bay
Tobaccolot Bay
Sag Harbor Bay
Three Mile Harbor
Long Beach Bay
Pipes Cove
Southold Bay
Flanders Bay
Napeague Bay
Fort Pond Bay
North Sea Harbor
New York Bay
Upper New York Bay
Lower New York Bay
Jamaica Bay
Raritan Bay
Sandy Hook Bay
Delaware Bay
Chesapeake Bay
Albemarle Sound
Pamlico Sound
American Mediterranean Sea
Gulf of Mexico
Florida Bay
Tampa Bay
Charlotte Harbor Estuary
Pensacola Bay
Mobile Bay
Vermilion Bay
Galveston Bay
Bay of Campeche
Caribbean Sea
Gulf of Gonâve (Haiti)
Gulf of Honduras
Golfo de los Mosquitos
Gulf of Venezuela
Lake Maracaibo
Gulf of Paria
Gulf of Darién
Bay of All Saints
Guanabara Bay
Lagoa dos Patos
Argentine Sea
Samborombón Bay
San Matías Gulf
Golfo Nuevo
San Jorge Gulf
Northern islands
(from east to west)
Irish Sea (between Great Britain and Ireland)
Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland
Sea of the Hebrides (Great Britain)
Denmark Strait (between Greenland and Iceland)
Irminger Sea
= Indian Ocean
=Andaman Sea
Gulf of Martaban – an arm of the Andaman Sea in the southern part of Myanmar
Arabian Sea
Gulf of Kutch
Gulf of Khambhat
Bay of Bengal
Gulf of Aden
Gulf of Oman
Laccadive Sea
Mozambique Channel
Persian Gulf
Red Sea
Sea of Zanj
Timor Sea
Palk Strait
Palk Bay
Gulf of Mannar
= Pacific Ocean
=Americas
Bering Sea
Bristol Bay
Norton Sound
Chilean Sea
Gulf of Corcovado
Gulf of Penas
Moraleda Channel
Reloncaví Sound
Sea of Chiloé
Gulf of Alaska
Cook Inlet
Glacier Bay
Prince William Sound
Salish Sea
Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortés)
Gulf of the Farallones
Gulf of Fonseca
Gulf of Guayaquil
Gulf of Nicoya
Gulf of Panama
Bay of San Miguel
Gulf of Parita
Panama Bay
Grau Sea
San Francisco Bay
San Pablo Bay
Australia and Eurasia
Arafura Sea
Bali Sea
Banda Sea
Bay of Kampong Som
Bay of Plenty
Bismarck Sea
Bohai Sea
Bohol Sea (also known as the Mindanao Sea)
Camotes Sea
Celebes Sea
Ceram Sea
Coral Sea
Devil's/Dragon's Sea
East China Sea
Ariake Sea
Hangzhou Bay
Kagoshima Bay
Flores Sea
Gulf of Carpentaria
Gulf of Thailand
Bandon Bay
Bay of Bangkok
Halmahera Sea
Hauraki Gulf
Hawke's Bay
Java Sea
Koro Sea
Molucca Sea
Philippine Sea
Ise Bay
Mikawa Bay
Suruga Bay
Poverty Bay
Sagami Bay
Savu Sea
Sea of Japan
Peter the Great Gulf
Toyama Bay
Wakasa Bay
Sea of Okhotsk
Shelikhov Gulf
Seto Inland Sea
Osaka Bay
Sibuyan Sea
Solomon Sea
South China Sea
Gulf of Tonkin
Qiongzhou Strait
Natuna Sea
North Natuna Sea
West Philippine Sea
South Seas
Gulf of Tonkin
Sulu Sea
Tasman Sea
Tokyo Bay
Visayan Sea
Waihau Bay
Yellow Sea
Bohai Sea
Bohai Bay
Laizhou Bay
Liaodong Bay
Jiaozhou Bay
Korea Bay
= Southern Ocean
=Amundsen Sea
Bellingshausen Sea
Cooperation Sea
Cosmonauts Sea
Davis Sea
D'Urville Sea
Drake Passage
King Haakon VII Sea
Lazarev Sea
Mawson Sea
McMurdo Sound
Polynyas in McMurdo Sound
Riiser-Larsen Sea
Ross Sea
Scotia Sea
Somov Sea
Spencer Gulf
Weddell Sea
Weddell Polynya/Maud Rise Polynya
Defined by ocean currents
While all other seas in the world are defined at least in part by land boundaries, there is only one sea which is defined only by ocean currents:
Sargasso Sea – a sea defined by the four ocean currents which create the North Atlantic Gyre
Not included
Entities called "seas" which are not divisions of the World Ocean are not included in this list. Excluded are:
Lakes, ponds, etc.:
Salt lakes with "Sea" in the name: Aral Sea, Dead Sea, Salton Sea
Freshwater lakes with "Sea" in the name: Sea of Galilee
Bodies of water identified in lakes (bays, straits, etc.)
Ocean gyres
Seas in fiction, religion or mythology
See also
Inland sea (geology)
Mediterranean sea (oceanography)
Oceanography
List of largest lakes and seas in the Solar System
Notes
References
External links
The dictionary definition of marginal sea at Wiktionary
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