Tropical Atlantic

Last updated
Flower coral off the coast of Humacao, Puerto Rico Underwater scene off the coast of Humacao, Puerto Rico.jpg
Flower coral off the coast of Humacao, Puerto Rico

The Tropical Atlantic realm is one of twelve marine realms that cover the world's coastal seas and continental shelves.

Contents

The Tropical Atlantic covers both sides of the Atlantic. In the western Atlantic, it extends from Bermuda, southern Florida, and the southern Gulf of Mexico through the Caribbean and along South America's Atlantic coast to Cape Frio in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state. In the Eastern Atlantic, it extends along the African coast from Cape Blanco in Mauritania to the Tigres Peninsula on the coast of Angola. It also includes the seas around St. Helena and Ascension islands.

The Tropical Atlantic is bounded on the north and south by temperate ocean realms. The Temperate Northern Atlantic realm lies to the north on both the North American and African-European shores of the Atlantic. To the south, the ocean realms conform to the continental margins, not the ocean basins; the Temperate South America realm lies to the south along the South American coast, and the Temperate Southern Africa realm lies to the south along the African coast.

Marine provinces

The Tropical Atlantic realm is divided into six marine provinces, which are in turn divided into 25 marine ecoregions.

Tropical Northwestern Atlantic

North Brazil Shelf

Tropical Southwestern Atlantic

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Islands

West African Transition

Gulf of Guinea

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lists of islands</span>

This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water, and by other classifications. For rank-order lists, see the other lists of islands below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neotropical realm</span> One of Earths eight biogeographic realms

The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone.

The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the global conservation organization, as priorities for conservation. According to WWF, an ecoregion is defined as a "relatively large unit of land or water containing a characteristic set of natural communities that share a large majority of their species dynamics, and environmental conditions". For example, based on their levels of endemism, Madagascar gets multiple listings, ancient Lake Baikal gets one, and the North American Great Lakes get none.

A marine ecoregion is an ecoregion, or ecological region, of the oceans and seas identified and defined based on biogeographic characteristics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of oceanography</span> Hierarchical outline list of articles related to oceanography

The following outline is provided as an overview of and introduction to Oceanography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Indo-Pacific</span> Biogeographic region of the Earths seas

The Western Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the eastern and central Indian Ocean. It is part of the larger Indo-Pacific, which includes the tropical Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the seas connecting the two in the general area of Indonesia. The Western Indo-Pacific may be classified as a marine realm, one of the great biogeographic divisions of the world's ocean basins, or as a subrealm of the Indo-Pacific.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Indo-Pacific</span> Biogeographic sea region

The Central Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic region of Earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the western Pacific Ocean, the eastern Indian Ocean, and the connecting seas.

<i>Gymnothorax miliaris</i> Species of fish

Gymnothorax miliaris, the goldentail moray, bastard eel, or conger moray, is a species of marine fish in the family Muraenidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lancer dragonet</span> Species of fish

The lancer dragonet, Baird's dragonet, coral dragonet or St Helena dragonet, is a species of dragonet native to the warmer waters of the Atlantic Ocean where it occurs at depths of from 1 to 91 metres. In the western Atlantic it occurs from Cape Hatteras southwards along the east coast of North America. including Bermuda and the Bahamas, into the Gulf of Mexico and throughout the Caribbean Sea. It has also been recorded from Ilha da Trindade off Brazil. In the eastern Atlantic it has been recorded from the Cape Verde Islands, Ascension Island, St. Helena, and Sao Tome e Principe in the Gulf of Guinea. This species grows to a length of 11.4 centimetres (4.5 in) TL.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marine biodiversity of South Africa</span> Variety of living organisms that live in the seas off the coast of South Africa

The Marine biodiversity of South Africa is the variety of living organisms that live in the seas off the coast of South Africa. It includes genetic, species and ecosystems biodiversity in a range of habitats spread over a range of ecologically varied regions, influenced by the geomorphology of the seabed and circulation of major and local water masses, which distribute both living organisms and nutrients in complex and time-variable patterns.

<i>Kyphosus bigibbus</i> Species of fish

Kyphosus bigibbus, the brown chub, grey drummer, darkfin drummer, insular rudderfish, grey chub, grey sea chub, southern drummer or topsail drummer is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sea chub from the family Kyphosidae. It is a herbivorous species which is found in subtropical and tropical seas worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temperate Southern Africa</span> Biogeographic region of the Earths seas, comprising the temperate waters of southern Africa.

Temperate Southern Africa is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the temperate waters of southern Africa, where the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean meet. It includes the coast of South Africa and Namibia, and reaches into southern Angola. It also includes the remote islands of Amsterdam and Saint-Paul, to the east in the southern Indian Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temperate South America</span> Biogeographic region of the Earths seas

Temperate South America is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the temperate and subtropical waters of South America, including both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the continent and adjacent islands. It also includes the remote Gough Island and Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temperate Australasia</span> Biogeographic regional waters of Australia and New Zealand

Temperate Australasia is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the temperate and subtropical waters of Australia and New Zealand, including both the Indian Ocean and Pacific coasts of the continent and adjacent islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temperate Northern Atlantic</span> Biogeographic region of the Earths seas

The Temperate Northern Atlantic is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the temperate and subtropical waters of the North Atlantic Ocean and connecting seas, including the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, and northern Gulf of Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northeastern Brazil marine ecoregion</span> Tropical marine ecoregion

The Northeastern Brazil marine ecoregion covers the coastal marine environment around the Northeast Region of Brazil. The marine ecoregion extends from the mouth of the Parnaíba River in the west around the eastern point of the Brazilian mainland and south to the Bay of All Saints. The warm South Equatorial Current feeds warm tropical water into the region from the east. The Northeastern Brazil ecoregion is one of two coastal marine ecoregions in the Tropical Southwest Atlantic marine province. It is thus part of the Tropical Atlantic realm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southeastern Brazil marine ecoregion</span> Tropical marine ecoregion

The Southeastern Brazil marine ecoregion covers the warm coastal waters to 250 miles offshore of southeastern Brazil, from the latitude of Rio de Janeiro in the north to Florianópolis in the south. Marine diversity is supported by local upwellings in the north and the inflow of the Brazil Current. The region is one of transition from a tropical to a warm temperate environment. The marine ecoregion is one of four coastal marine ecoregions in the Warm Temperate Southwestern Atlantic marine province. It is thus part of the Temperate South America realm. .

References