sea - List of seas, Ambiguous terminology, Extraterrestrial seas

A part of an ocean which is generally shallower and defined by somewhat loosely drawn boundaries related to the surrounding landmasses. Epicontinental seas, such as the North Sea and the China Sea, lie over part of a continental shelf. Landlocked seas, such as the Mediterranean, are isolated from the oceans except by narrow channels. Large inland lakes may also be called seas, such as the Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea.

A sea is a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, or a large, usually saline, lake that lacks a natural outlet such as the Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea. The term is used colloquially as synonymous with ocean, as in "the tropical sea" or "down to the sea shore", or even "sea water" to refer to water of the ocean. Many seas are marginal seas, in which currents are caused by ocean winds;

List of seas

Atlantic Ocean

Baffin Bay Gulf of St. Lawrence Bay of Fundy Caribbean Sea Gulf of Mexico Sargasso Sea† North Sea Baltic Sea Central Baltic Sea Gulf of Bothnia Bay of Bothnia Bothnian Sea Gulf of Finland Sea of the Hebrides Irish Sea Celtic Sea English Channel Mediterranean Sea Adriatic Sea Aegean Sea Mirtoon Sea Sea of Crete Thracian Sea Alboran Sea Marmara Sea Black Sea Sea of Azov Catalan Sea Ionian Sea Ligurian Sea Tyrrhenian Sea Gulf of Sidra Sea of Marmara

Arctic Ocean

Hudson Bay James Bay Barents Sea Kara Sea Beaufort Sea Amundsen Gulf Greenland Sea Norwegian Sea Chukchi Sea Laptev Sea East Siberian Sea White Sea Lincoln Sea

Indian Ocean

Red Sea Gulf of Aden Persian Gulf Gulf of Oman Arabian Sea Bay of Bengal Andaman Sea Timor Sea

Pacific Ocean

Chilean Sea Bering Sea Gulf of Alaska Salish Sea Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California) Sea of Okhotsk Sea of Japan Seto Inland Sea East China Sea South China Sea Sulu Sea Celebes Sea Bohol Sea (Mindanao Sea) Philippine Sea Camotes Sea Flores Sea Banda Sea Arafura Sea Timor Sea Tasman Sea Yellow Sea Bohai Sea Coral Sea Gulf of Carpentaria Bismarck Sea Solomon Sea Ceram Sea Halmahera Sea Molucca Sea Savu Sea Java Sea Gulf of Thailand

Southern Ocean

Weddell Sea Ross Sea Great Australian Bight Gulf Saint Vincent Spencer Gulf Scotia Sea Amundsen Sea Bellingshausen Sea Davis Sea

Landlocked seas

Aral Sea Caspian Sea Dead Sea Sea of Galilee Salton Sea Great Salt Lake

† Not listed in IHO S-23 4th ed.

Ambiguous terminology

Some bodies of water that are called "seas" are not actually seas; there are also some seas that are not called "seas".

Extraterrestrial seas

Lunar maria are vast basaltic plains on the Moon that were thought to be bodies of water by early astronomers, who referred to them as "seas".

Liquid water may have existed on the surface of Mars in the distant past, and several basins on Mars have been proposed as dry sea beds.