The Black Sea around the Crimea. Black Sea aka Pontus Axinus (The Inhospitable Sea), later Black Sea aka Pontus Euxinus(the Hospitable Sea)
"… of all the seas this one is the most remarkable", - this is what an
ancient historian Herodotus wrote about the Black Sea.
The first documentary data about the Black Sea came to us from the ancient
Greeks. They started to create their colonies on the Black Sea shores from
the VI century BC.
Since that time the sea had names Scythian Sea,
Pontus Axinus (inhospitable sea),
Pontus Euxinus (hospitable sea) - the Greeks might have changed their
opinions after settling down near it. It also had names
Surozh Sea (after an ancient name of Sudak). The Genoese called it Russian
Sea because I provided the shortest way for Russian merchants to Byzantium.
The name "Black" was given to the sea later. One of the explanations is
that the sea waters are darker compared with the water of the Mediterranean
Sea.
Another very interesting is that such unfriendly name (Pontus Axinus -
inhospitable sea) was caused by
the cruel piracy on the Black Sea during Scythians and Tauri times.
The peculiarity of the Black Sea is its sulphurated Hydrogen Stratum at the
depth of 150-200 m, which makes 87% of its volume lifeless.
There are about 170 species of fish in the sea. White sturgeon, Black Sea
anchovy, herrings, grey mullets, tunas, horse mackerels, flat fish,
Black Sea shark and of course dolphins, which attract a great attention
of all the sea inhabitants.
Swimming in the sea at night in August, it is possible to see an interesting
phenomenon - phosphorescence of the sea, which has a biological origin.
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