How Did the Yellow Sea in South Korea Get Its Name?
How did the Yellow Sea in South Korea get its name? You might think that it was from a famous person with the last name of "Yellow" who crossed it, or maybe you feel that the name of the sea is related to some legend of long ago.
The Yellow Sea in South Korea was not named after a person, a legend, or anything of that sort. We certainly have all sorts of items in this world with names that do not make sense. However, the Yellow Sea is not one of them!
The Yellow Sea got its name because it actually is yellow. When there are sand storms in the Gobi Desert, the sand blows into the water and turns the surface yellow. Sand and silt also run down the Yellow River and Hai He, bringing the materials into the sea, thereby turning it yellow. Therefore, you do not have a sea that is completely yellow at all times, but rather one with a yellow surface as the result of blown sand.
The Yellow Sea
Location
Chances are, you already know that the Yellow Sea touches parts of South Korea. The Yellow Sea is also a part of the East China Sea, which is a sea of the Pacific Ocean. It also touches the coasts of both North Korea and China, and in the Koreas, the sea is sometimes known as the Western Sea.
Animal and Plant Life
If you visit the shores of the Yellow Sea, you will find lots of seaweed since the sea is abundant in it. Yes, of course, most seas and oceans have seaweed floating around, but this one has a particularly large amount.
Other creatures living in this body of water include shellfish, clams, crustaceans and cephalopods. There is actually a large population of blue-green algae in the waters too.
Near the southern part of the sea, you will find a lot of intertidal mudflats, which you could picture as sorts of sturdy barriers. Because of these intertidal mudflats, a lot of birds flock to the area and take rest on them. When birds are migrating north on what is known as the East Asian Australian Flyway, at least two million birds fly through these mudflats region on a yearly basis!
Other "Colorful" Seas
While it certainly is interesting to learn how the Yellow Sea in South Korea got its name, and to see a body of water that is actually yellow, the Yellow Sea is not the only "colored" sea in the world. Do you know what the other ones are? Well, two of them are pretty familiar names, and maybe you are acquainted with the third as well. The other three seas that are named after colors are:
Where do you think the names of these seas came from? You might be surprised to learn that a sea is not always named after a color just because it is that color. A lot of history and culture comes into the names of some of these seas. Names do not just get applied with absolutely no significance attached. An interesting study would be for you to look at the names of all of these seas and see how they developed and came to be!