Philippine Sea

The Philippine Sea is located on the east and northeast of the Philippines in Southeast of Asia.

It is in the western part of the North Pacific Ocean. On its southwest boundary, it is bordered by Luzon, Catanduanes, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao islands.

On the southeast, it is bordered by Halmahera, Morotai, Palau, Yap, and Ulithi islands.

On the east, it bordered by Guam, Saipan, and Tinian islands. On the northeast, it is bordered by Bonin and Iwo Jima islands.

On the north, it is bordered by Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu which are Japanese islands.

On the west, it is bordered by the Ryukyu Islands and Taiwan on the west.

Philippine Sea Facts for Kids

  • The Philippine Sea occupies a large area which is estimated to be about 5 million square kilometers which can be approximated as 2 million square miles. Its area is estimated at 5.695 million km².
  • The Philippine Sea has a mean depth which is estimated to be 4,108 m.
  • On the floor of the Philippine Sea, there is a plate known as the Philippine Sea Plate. Between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Philippine Mobile Belt, there is the Philippine Trench which has a depth of 34,578 feet (10,539 m).
  • The Philippine Sea is a habitat and a breeding site for Japanese eel, tuna, and different types of whales.
  • The first navigation on the Philippine Sea was done by Ferdinard Magellan in 1521 who named it Mar Filipinas. It was later discovered by some explorers from Spain between 1522 and 1565 and the location of the famous galleon trade route.
  • The Philippine Sea is a habitat for many mysterious creatures such as Sea cows, Sperm whale, Blobfish, Dugong, Squid fish, and Megalodon.
  • The Philippine Sea contains deep-sea trenches such as Philippine Trench and Mariana Trench which contain the deepest point on earth. The Philippine Trench is also known as the Mindanao Trench or the Mindanao Deep.
  • In 1944 there was a battle in the Philippine Sea which was named as Battle of the Philippine Sea. The battle took place in the eastern Philippine Sea near the Mariana Islands.
  • The Philippine Sea is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as the area of the North Pacific Ocean off the Eastern coasts of the Philippine Islands.
  • The Philippine Sea is a home for many living creatures. It is believed that about 500 different species of both soft and hard invertebrates that generally live in compact colonies of many similar individual abnormal group of tissues that most often look like small, flat bumps or tiny mushroom stalks are found in the waters of the Philippine Sea.
  • Twenty percent of the shellfish that exist in earth live in the waters of the Philippine Sea. The common ones sharks, moray eels, octopuses, sea snakes.
  • During the Battle of the Philippine Sea which took place in the Philippine Sea, Japan lost and three air craft carriers and 600 aircrafts in two days.
  • The Philippine Sea is the largest sea in the world in terms of the surface area and is considered as part and a marginal sea of the North Pacific Ocean.

What did you learn?

Question: Which are the basin countries for the Philippine Sea?

Answer: Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Indonesia, Japan, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Philippines, and Taiwan.

Question: Many Seas in the world do host a number of Islands on them, the Philippine Sea is not an exception in this case. Which are the islands that are located on the lands of the Philippine Sea?

Answer: Luzon, Mindanao, Leyte, Polillo Island, and Siargao Island.

Question: What was the name given to the aerial part of the Battle of the Philippine Sea?

Answer: Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.