Il Sargasso Sea, located in the North Atlantic Ocean, is notable for being the only sea in the world without coasts. This sea is bounded not by land, but by ocean currents: the North Atlantic Current to the north, the Canary Current to the east, the North Atlantic Equatorial Current to the south and the Antilles Current to the west.
These currents, known as ocean gyres, form a system of circular ocean currents created by global winds and the Earth’s rotation, thus trapping water within them. The The name of the sea derives from its particular type of algae, Sargassoa floating mass of yellowish-brown macroalgae that creates a unique marine environment.
This “floating golden rainforest” serves as a habitat, feeding and breeding area, as well as migratory corridor for various marine species. For example, critically endangered European eels migrate to this distant sea to breed, and various species of whales, such as baleen whales and humpback whales, pass through it on their transoceanic journeys.
The Sargasso Sea was first mentioned by Christopher Columbus in his expedition journals of 1492. His encounter with masses of floating seaweed, which usually indicate proximity to land, caused considerable concern among his crew. Their ship, the Santa María, was stuck in the ocean for three days due to windless conditions (flat calm).
The crew feared that algae might trap them and drag them underwater, thus contributing to the Sargasso Sea’s reputation as a potentially dangerous and mysterious place. Despite its importance for marine life, the Sargasso Sea is threatened by human activities. Ships damage the environment with a mixture of noise and chemical pollution, dangerous even for crabs, and the currents that isolate it drag enormous accumulations of plastic and other human debris in its waters.
Due to the circular movements of the ocean gyres, the plastic converges in the Sargasso Sea, forming a huge island of waste known as the “North Atlantic garbage patch“, estimated to be hundreds of kilometers in size and with a density of 200,000 pieces of waste per square kilometer (and that’s not even the largest there is!).