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The Tropical Atlantic realm is one of twelve marine realms that cover the world's coastal seas and continental shelves.

The Tropical Atlantic covers both sides of the Atlantic. In the western Atlantic, it extends from Bermuda, southern Florida, and the southern Gulf of Mexico through the Caribbean and along South America's Atlantic coast to Cape Frio in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state. In the Eastern Atlantic, it extends along the African coast from Cape Blanco in Mauritania to the Tigres Peninsula on the coast of Angola. It also includes the seas around St. Helena and Ascension islands.

The Tropical Atlantic is bounded on the north and south by temperate ocean realms. The Temperate Northern Atlantic realm lies to the north on both the North American and African-European shores of the Atlantic. To the south, the ocean realms conform to the continental margins, not the ocean basins; the Temperate South America realm lies to the south along the South American coast, and the Temperate Southern Africa realm lies to the south along the African coast.

Marine provinces

The Tropical Atlantic realm is divided into six marine provinces, which are in turn divided into 25 marine ecoregions.

Tropical Northwestern Atlantic

• Bermuda
• Bahamian
• Eastern Caribbean
• Greater Antilles
• Southwestern Caribbean
• Western Caribbean
• Southern Gulf of Mexico
• Floridian

North Brazil Shelf

• Guianian
• Amazonia

Tropical Southwestern Atlantic

• Sao Pedro and Sao Paulo Islands
• Fernando de Noronha and Atol das Rocas
• Northeastern Brazil
• Eastern Brazil
• Trindade and Martin Vaz Islands

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Islands

• Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Islands

West African Transition

• Cape Verde
• Sahelian Upwelling

Gulf of Guinea

• Gulf of Guinea West
• Gulf of Guinea Upwelling
• Gulf of Guinea Central
• Gulf of Guinea Islands
• Gulf of Guinea South
• Angolan

References

• Spalding, Mark D., Helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson et al. "Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas". Bioscience Vol. 57 No. 7, July/August 2007, pp. 573–583.

External links

• Marine Ecoregions of the World (WWF)

• Tropical Atlantic
• Marine realms
• Atlantic Ocean