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The Celebes Sea of the western Pacific Ocean, bordered on the north by the Sulu Archipelago and Sulu Sea and Mindanao Island of the Philippines, on the east by the Sangi Islands chain, on the south by Sulawesi, and on the west by Borneo. The Sea is in the form of a huge basin, and plunges as deep as 6,200 m. It extends 420 miles (675 km) north-south by 520 miles (837 km) east-west and has a total surface area of 110,000 square miles (280,000 square km). The sea opens southwest through the Makassar Strait into the Java Sea.
The Celebes Sea is a piece of an ancient ocean basin that formed 42 million years ago in a setting far from any land mass. By 20 million years ago, crustal movement had pushed the Celebes basin close enough to the Indonesian and Philippine volcanoes to receive volcanic debris. By 10 million years ago the Celebes Sea was inundated with continental debris, including coal, which was shed from a rapidly growing young mountain on Borneo and the basin had docked against Eurasia.
The border between the Celebes and the Sulu Sea is at the Sibutu-Basilan Ridge. Strong ocean currents, deep sea trench es and sea mount s, combined with active volcanic islands, result in complex oceanographic features.
The celebes sea has somewhat attained an international notoriety for its piratesThis article is about sea pirates. For other uses see Pirate (disambiguation A pirate is one who robs or plunders at sea without a commission from a recognised sovereign nation. Pirates usually target other ships, but have also attacked targets on shore. preying not only on small time fishermen but also entire giant container ships. Nowadays, these pirates have high-tech weapons and equipments like radarThis article is about the device. For the fictional character in M A S H see Corporal Walter (Radar) O'Reilly. antenna (approximately 40m (130ft) in diameter) rotates on a track to observe activities near the horizon. Radar is an acronym for ra dio d etec and GPS navigation devices and ride on high-speed motorboats.
Celebes sea is home to a wide variety of fish and aquatic creatures. The tropical setting and warm clear waters permit the Celebes sea to harbor about 580 of the world's 793 species of reef-building coralCorals are gastrovascular marine cnidarians (phylum Cnidaria; class Anthozoa) existing as small anemone-like polyps, typically forming colonies of many individuals. The group includes the important reef builders known as hermatypic corals, found in tropics, which grow as some of the most bio-diverse coral reefs in the world, and an impressive array of marine life, including whaleWhales are the largest species of exclusively aquatic placental mammals, dfsgRSFNjg A complete up-to-date taxonomical listing of all cetacean species, including all whales is maintained at the Cetacea article. Anatomy Like all mammals, whales breathe airs and dolphinThis article is about the dolphin mammal. For other uses of the term, please see dolphin (disambiguation). See article below. Dolphins are certain aquatic mammals related to whales and porpoises. The word is used in a few different ways. It can mean: #anys, sea turtleCaretta Lepidochelys Chelonia Eretmochelys Natator Dermochelys Sea turtles are large, ocean-dwelling turtles. There are seven species of sea turtle, all endangered: Family Cheloniidae Subfamily Carettinae Genus Caretta Caretta caretta Loggerhead Sea Turtls, manta raysThe manta ray or giant manta is the largest of the ray fish, ranging up to eight meters (25 ft) across and weighing up 3,000 kg (3 tons). It ranges throughout the tropical seas of the world, typically around coral reefs. Black above and white below, with, eagle rays , barracuda, marlin and other reef and pelagic species. Tuna and yellow fin tuna are also abundant.