Talk:Red Sea

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I really doubt that there are 300 sharks in the Red sea, can anyone confirm that? My guess is 50-100 max, amybe even less, but have nothin to back this up!! According to wiki there are totally 368v number of sharks and the red sea has much fewer species than the pacific ..... Stefan

Contents

[edit] Sharks

Thanks for the comment Stefan - the data I have (from the reference cited) is that there are 44 species of shark in the Red Sea (which is what I think the article states?). Please see the List of Red Sea sharks - which is not exhaustive, so any further additions appreciated! Photo2222 17:25, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Map

Can we have a map of the Red Sea here? Oberiko 12:23, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Why would you waste your time linking those photos when there is no map... --Csnewton 20:23, 25 May 2005 (UTC)

At its widest = 190 miles? Is there a reference for this? I'm not sure putting unconfirmed information like this on the page is very responsible. Shtickless

[edit] Name

What do the Arabic and Hebrew names mean? Bathrobe 4 April 2005

the hebrew name means "reef sea" Mandavi 01:16, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Query how the page could reasonably relate "red sea" which translates a Greek phrase, to "reed sea" which translates "yam suf" the Hebrew for the body of water crossed during the Exodus. No confusion is possible between the Greek for red and the Hebrew for reed "suf". The only way to confuse red and reed is in English. The Greek name referenced appears in Septuagint composed in the 300s BCE. English didn't exist for hundreds of years after that. Better take this part out since it shows the writer doesn't understand this. OMG da website has no references to where day got da info dudes




[edit] Exodus template

Removed the exodus template from the bottom of the article. Don't think a religious track belongs in a general geographic/descriptive article. Put a link to it in the see also maybe, but the template doesn't fit. Vsmith 01:12, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

OK, I see it's already there in Passage of the Red Sea so it is certainly is irrelevant here. Vsmith 01:44, 4 December 2005 (UTC)
The problems with removing it from here is that you can no longer follow the Exodus route as a chain. The previous site Elim refers to this page as the next one, so you can click through the route up to this point, and after it but this edit removes the continuity. I suppose it would be better to use the Passage of the Red Sea as a page in that case. I'll make the changes Codec 09:00, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Surface area

I am not sure why there are two different surface areas in the opening section. I could not find a source for the 438,000 sq km reference. I found some for the 450,000 sq km reference [1]. Therefore, unless someone can show a source for it, am I removing the 430,000 sq km part; it is a little confusing to have both. MJCdetroit 14:13, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Somalia

I doubt that Somalia has direct access to the red sea - more to the Gulf of Aden - some one shoud take it of the text and maybe even from the picture. Mandavi 01:21, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

I agree...why is Somalia listed? --Merhawie 22:39, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
And either Eilat and Aqaba , they both belong to Gulf of Aqaba. Ammar (Talk - Don't Talk) 22:59, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
Well, the Gulf of Aqaba is part of the Red Sea.--Doron 22:42, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
Gulf of Aden is also part of Red Sea  A M M A R  15:30, 22 October 2007 (UTC)
So shall we seperate them ? anyone agree ?  A M M A R  15:32, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Further physical and biological considerations

I wanted to confirm that the Red Sea is a body of salt water, populated by salt water flora and fauna, but the article does not touch on this. Presumably since the Red Sea opens into the Gulf of Aden, and thence the Indian Ocean -- and more recently connects with the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal -- it is as salty as any of our oceans ... but the article doesn't say so.

(For that matter, is the Mediterranean Sea as salty as the Atlantic Ocean? After all, it is fed by many major rivers.)

Is the Red Sea a continental "crack" caused by tectonic activity, which has filled with salt water? Rather than being a major destination for rivers? But is it fed by fresh water rivers, which might or might not keep it from getting as salty?

Some of these points would be quite relevant to the recent proposals to replenish the water in the Dead Sea with water from the Red Sea. The salient (no pun intended) concern is whether the water contains similar chemicals (salt, minerals, etc.) and fauna and flora ... if not, although the water level might be restored, there would be quite an environmental impact, and this might ultimately prove to be a very bad idea.

It is definitely salty, but I do not know to what degree. There are no major rivers flowing into the Red Sea (most feed into the Nile), but I cannot say that there are none whatsoever. Either way, isn't the Dead sea saltier than the ocean (meaning the problems with salinity changes would occur either way, though I guess it's getting saltier through its evaporation and this would slow or reverse that trend).
Yom 08:23, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
The flora and fauna of the Dead Sea? There aren't many to worry about, hence the name. That sea has increased in salinity due to water diversions and suplementing it with saline water from the Red Sea would return it closer to the state it used to be. And the Red Sea is the saltiest sea there in the world. (4% NaCl compared to 8% NaCl for the Dead Sea - which has a total salinity of 30-40% counting other salts) Rmhermen 17:53, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Isn't Lake Assal (and some lakes in Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Danakil depression) the saltiest sea/lake in the world? I know they used to be huge, but now there's just sulfur and salt for miles on end.

Yom 19:08, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Commercial fishing?

Is their any commercial fishing is the Red Sea? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.206.165.12 (talk) 03:46, 19 January 2007 (UTC).

Yes. Ammar (Talk - Don't Talk) 18:01, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Red Sea

In your article about The Red Sea you wrote:

“The Bible, in the book of The Exodus famously tells the story of how Moses leads the Israelites across its headwaters, (presumably the Reed Sea which has since disappeared because of the Suez Canal water diversion) to freedom, by using the powers of God to part the waters; although, there is no extant evidence to support this claim.”

If you would use the Bible as one of your references...you would find all the evidence you need. Incidentally, this factual story is found in the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Exodus. You wrote; the book of The Exodus.

Sincerely, M. Vino

The Bible is a fine reference for many things, such as Biblical quotations, the history of the Bible itself, its role in Christianity, etc. It is not so good as a source for claiming the Biblical parting of the Red Sea actually happened. For more on wikipedia's views on using the Bible as a source in this way, see Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard#The Bible. That page says in part, The Bible is a primary historical source document, and should only be used on that basis. It says X, that doesn't mean we can say that X is true, but is verifiable that the Bible says X and that fact can be included in relevant articles. ...in other words, it is fine to say that Moses parted the Red Sea... according to the Bible in the Book of Exodus. Such a claim would be totally and verifiable. But claiming it as a fact and citing the Bible as your source is unencylopedic. So I removed your "fact" tag. If you can come up with a good reliable source -- an academic peer-reviewed article or book ideally -- that supports the claim, please feel free to add it and change the claim of "no extant evidence". Pfly (talk) 23:52, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Arabian gulf

ARABIAN GULF IS HERE .......... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.107.33.253 (talk) 15:10, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] "Ecological disaster" reads like an editorial. Needs big-time clean-up.

I already know most of this information to be true, and I'm not challenging the accuracy of specific information in the section. Though I did find that it reads as if it were an editorial. Along with true facts about ecological disaster in the Red Sea, there is also a bunch of opinionated mumbo-jumbo in the section. Here are some quotations from the section:

"— spew filth." Filth is a synonym for dirt. We know that industrial waste and sewage are filthy... but is that the correct term to use in an encyclopedia? "filth"?

"Faeces, industrial waste, toxic components and heavy metals that make up the outflow does not go away just by being deep under water and away from public view." Feces spelled wrong. Also, do not, not does not. No idea why that line is there anyway. Sounds like preaching/informative advice/pointing out the obvious, not facts to be found in an encyclopedia. Nothing in the world "goes away" by being out of sight...

"Soon the stuff is back"' Stuff?

"Children play in this, families sit beside it and disease breeds in it." What is this, a story? So, um, you were passing by one day and saw the children and their families? You also kept in contact with them, and later discovered that they get got sick? Or is it a separate "people are there" then "oh, by the way, disease breeds in filth"?

"And very often, it stinks." Wait, what?

"That is why wild local prawns have a substantial black and swollen gut. The local fresh fish market of the Corniche is positively awash with people blissfully unaware of what they are buying and consuming." Why oh why? How did this turn into fish market story telling? We know, pollution => fish => people eat that fish => bad thing, and it was already mentioned, so why is that extra line in there? Totally irrelevant.

Just a few examples. Read it people, there's more in there. To top all of this off, there are little to no sources in the section. Forock (talk) 12:07, 27 April 2008 (UTC)