Today it’s one of the most-visited and well-regarded diving locations anywhere in the world, but the Red Sea – that slither of a water dividing Africa from the Arabian Peninsula – is famous for so much more.
For example, there’s the famous parting of the Red Sea in Exodus and then there’s the oddity of its name – because, let’s be honest, there’s nothing red about the Red Sea. (Or is there? More on that later.)
Starting with the wildlife, the Red Sea is renowned as a highly productive ecosystem, with hundreds of kms of coral reefs supporting a varied diversity of species including sharks, turtles and those strangest of marine mammals, dugongs.
Almost entirely herbivorous, dugongs feed largely on seagrass which they consume in enormous quantities. The name dugong comes from the word duyun and may or may not (depending on who you believe) mean ‘sea lady’ or even ‘mermaid’.
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These gentle ocean giants can weigh up to 1,000kg (that’s extreme – most are typically closer to 250kg) and they are close relatives of the three manatee species found on the Eastern seaboard of the Americas and in the Amazon. Dugongs, by contrast, are found from the Red Sea as far east as New Caledonia and Vanuatu.
Sharks are common in the Red Sea, and a major lure for divers, and species include hammerhead, tiger and thresher sharks. It’s been estimated that a single shark is worth US$120,000 a year in tourist revenue.
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But the Red Sea is a major shipping route, because the Suez Canal begins at its northern end. Scientists say an estimated one million barrels of oil are transported through it every day, leading to a permanent threat of potentially catastrophic spills.
Pollution incidents do happen, with the most recent one in 2024. Fertiliser, herbicidal and other chemical run off from the land can also damage coral reef and other habitats.
But let’s return to what the Red Sea is most famous for – the parting which allowed the Israelites to escape from the pursuing Egyptians. You might want to believe that God had a hand in this, or the work of a scientist who concluded that, firstly, this famous episode took place in a location called the Lake of Tanis in the eastern Nile Delta and that, secondly, it would be possible for very strong winds to effectively blow water from one area to another and thus dry it out.
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And the name? Well, scientists can’t agree. It either refers to seasonal blooms of a red-coloured algae called Trichodesmium or it’s got nothing to do with the colour red at all – instead, Asiatic languages often use colours to refer to the cardinal points, and the Red Sea simply means South Sea.
