Six things you didn't know about the Gulf of Mexico.
1. The Gulf of Mexico is the largest gulf in the world and the 10th largest body of water on the planet.
2. The Gulf is home to more than 750 known shipwrecks, ranging from modern wrecks all the way back to the 16th century.
3. The black coral that lives in the Gulf is one of the oldest living things on earth. A recent study dated the coral to be at least 2,000 years old.
4. The Gulf is home to at least 49 different species of sharks.
5. In 2014, an underwater brine pool known as "The Hot Tub of Despair" was found off the coast of New Orleans. This area is so dense with salt that it doesn't mix with the surrounding water, and animals that wander into it don't come out alive.
6. The average depth of the Gulf is 5,200 feet, but The Sigsbee Deep, about 200 miles southeast of Brownsville, Texas, is estimated to be 14,000 feet deep.
Originally published in Beach Happy Magazine, Issue 3
