One hundred and thirty million years ago, what we now know as the Peninsula of Baja California began drifting away from mainland Mexico. As the two land masses separated, they created a large interior sea. Five million years ago, the mouth of this sea began to open ,allowing the cold waters coming from the North Pole (now known as the California Current) to mix in with warm waters coming from the tropics (the Equatorial Current). This mixing bowl created one of the most productive seas in the world: the Gulf of California or Sea of Cortés; named after the famous Spanish Conquistador.
This video was designed as educational material and was not created for Profit Purposes as stipulated by the mission of the Gulf of California Marine Program at SIO.