A broad continental-shelf sea off East Asia, swept by the warm Kuroshio Current and crowded with shipping and fishing fleets.
Area
1,249,000 km²
Ocean basin
Pacific
Location
A busy shelf sea warmed by the Kuroshio
Average depth
about 350 m
Maximum depth
about 2,720 m
Salinity
~32–34 ppt
Temperature
Warm, 7–27°C
Region
Between China, Japan, Korea & Taiwan
About the East China Sea
The East China Sea lies over a wide, shallow continental shelf between China, the Korean Peninsula, Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and Taiwan. The powerful warm Kuroshio Current skirts its deeper eastern side, while great rivers pour sediment and nutrients into it from the mainland, feeding some of the busiest fisheries in Asia.
Did you know?
The warm Kuroshio Current — the Pacific’s answer to the Gulf Stream — sweeps along its edge, carrying tropical warmth far to the north.
Highlights
- Warmed by the mighty Kuroshio Current
- A broad, shallow continental-shelf sea
- One of Asia’s busiest fishing grounds
Photo gallery
Life in the East China Sea
Creatures, seabirds and marine plants — including some of the rarest and strangest — that live in these waters.
Creatures of the deep
Japanese spider crab
The largest leg-span of any arthropod — up to 3.7 m from claw to claw.
Cuttlefish
A master of disguise with W-shaped pupils that flashes rippling colour across its skin.
Moray eel
A reef ambush predator with a hidden second set of jaws in its throat to drag prey down.
Green sea turtle
The only sea turtle that grazes seagrass as an adult, which tints its fat green.
Seabirds
Great cormorant
An expert diving seabird that perches with wings spread wide to dry its feathers.
Marine plants & algae
Sea lettuce
A bright-green, paper-thin edible seaweed that drapes rocky shores worldwide.
Eelgrass
A temperate seagrass whose waving meadows nurse young fish and lock away carbon.
Surface & deep in the East China Sea
The sea is warm where the Sun reaches it and cold far below. Flip between the sunlit surface and the deep water to feel the difference — these are typical figures for a sea.
Sunlit surface
22°C
typical surface temperature
Seas warm strongly at the surface in summer, but their deeper water stays cold and still — the sunlight simply never reaches it.
Recorded range for the East China Sea: Warm, 7–27°C