Oceans and Seas of the World

You may well be familiar with the phrase, "The Seven Seas", well things have moved on a bit since those days and there are in fact closer to a hundred.

Defining what is a sea and what is an ocean is not an exact science. We can refer to the entire interconnected body of water that covers two thirds of the Earth's surface as "the Sea". However, this sea is made up of 5 oceans and these oceans are in turn made up by many seas.

Map of World Oceans and Seas

Map of Oceans and Seas

Table of major seas and oceans

Name Area Average
depth		 Maximum
depth
  Miles2 Km2 Feet Metres Feet Metres
Pacific Ocean 60,060,700 155,557,000 13,215 4,028 36,198 11,033
Atlantic Ocean 29,637,900 76,762,000 12,880 3,926 30,246 9,219
Indian Ocean 26,469,500 68,556,000 13,002 3,963 24,460 7,455
Southern Ocean 7,848,300 20,327,000 16,400 5,000 23,736 7,235
Arctic Ocean 5,427,000 14,056,000 3,953 1,205 18,456 5,625
Mediterranean Sea 1,144,800 2,965,800 4,688 1,429 15,197 4,632
Caribbean Sea 1,049,500 2,718,200 8,685 2,647 22,788 6,946
South China Sea 895,400 2,319,000 5,419 1,652 16,456 5,016
Bering Sea 884,900 2,291,900 5,075 1,547 15,659 4,773
Gulf of Mexico 615,000 1,592,800 4,874 1,486 12,425 3,787
Okhotsk Sea 613,800 1,589,700 2,749 838 12,001 3,658
East China Sea 482,300 1,249,200 617 188 9,126 2,782
Hudson Bay 475,800 1,232,300 420 128 600 183
Sea of Japan 389,100 1,007,800 4,429 1,350 12,276 3,742
Andaman Sea 308,000 797,700 2,854 870 12,392 3,777
North Sea 222,100 575,200 308 94 2,165 660
Red Sea 169,100 438,000 1,611 491 7,254 2,211
Black Sea 168,500 436,400 4,111 1,253 7,257 2,212
Baltic Sea 163,000 422,200 180 55 1,380 421
Caspian Sea 152,239 394,299 690 211 3,104 946