The is a body of salt water surrounded by

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since anc ...

Saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to th ...

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

, and

Kumamoto Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to the northeast, M ...

s, all of which lie on the island of

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. It is the largest bay in Kyūshū. Its deepest point is only about 50 meters (165 ft) deep, and extreme tides exceed , covering roughly . Isahaya Bay is a branch of the Ariake Sea. Across the

Amakusa Islands , which means "Heaven's Grass," is a series of islands off the west coast of Kyushu, the southernmost of the four main islands of Japan. Geography The largest island of the Amakusa group is Shimoshima, which is 26.5 miles long and 13.5 mi ...

lies the

Yatsushiro Sea The , which is also called the , is a shallow semi-enclosed inland sea separating the island of Kyūshū from the Amakusa Islands. It lies mostly within Kumamoto Prefecture and at the southern end of the sea it also borders Kagoshima Prefectu ...

. Many harbors are located on the coast of the Ariake Sea. Among them are Misumi (in the city of

Uki, Kumamoto is a city in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 59,928, with 23,724 households and a population density of 320 persons per km2. The total area is 188.56 km2. The modern city of Uki w ...

Prefecture), Shimabara (

Shimabara, Nagasaki is a city located on the north-eastern tip of the Shimabara Peninsula, facing Ariake Bay in the east and Mount Unzen (including Fugendake) in the west, in Nagasaki Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan. As of October 1, 2016, the city has an estimated pop ...

), Taira ( Unzen, Nagasaki), Nagasu ( Nagasu, Kumamoto), Kumamoto (

Kumamoto, Kumamoto is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a population of 1,461 ...

), Miike ( Omuta, Fukuoka), Kuchinotsu ( Minamishimabara, Nagasaki), and Oniike (

Amakusa, Kumamoto is a city located in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. As of March 31, 2017, Amakusa has an estimated population of 83,082 and a population density of 120 persons per km2. The total area is . Amakusa has the distinction of being the fastest de ...

). Five

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ta ...

routes cross the Ariake Sea. Various species of fauna, including

mudskipper Mudskippers are any of the 23 extant species of amphibious fish from the subfamily Oxudercinae of the goby family Oxudercidae. They are known for their unusual body shapes, preferences for semiaquatic habitats, limited terrestrial locomotion ...

s, pen shells (''Atrina pectinata''), and

fiddler crab The fiddler crab or calling crab may be any of more than one hundred species of semiterrestrial marine crabs in the family Ocypodidae, well known for their sexually dimorphic claws; the males' major claw is much larger than the minor claw, whil ...

s, live in the Ariake Sea. In autumn, the '' Suaeda''

halophyte A halophyte is a salt-tolerant plant that grows in soil or waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through its roots or by salt spray, such as in saline semi-deserts, mangrove swamps, marshes and sloughs and seashores. Th ...

''shichimenso'' (''

Suaeda japonica __NOTOC__ ''Suaeda'' is a genus of plants also known as seepweeds and sea-blites. Most species are confined to saline or alkaline soil habitats, such as coastal salt-flats and tidal wetlands. Many species have thick, succulent leaves, a character ...

'') grows along the shore. The Ariake Sea is used for

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

, with '' nori'' being a major product. Recent years have brought increasing pollution, with resultant red tides. There is ongoing land reclamation, as evidenced by satellite imagery, despite government attempts to dissuade farmers from carrying out the activity.

External links

有明海総合研究プロジェクト
"Ariake Sea General Research Project" (Saga University, in Japanese)
有明海等環境情報・研究ネットワーク
"Environmental Information on Ariake Etc.: Research Network" (Japan Fisheries Resource Conservation Association, in Japanese) {{Authority control Bays of Kyushu Kyushu region Ōmuta, Fukuoka Bays of the Pacific Ocean Landforms of Fukuoka Prefecture Landforms of Saga Prefecture Landforms of Nagasaki Prefecture Landforms of Kumamoto Prefecture

See also

External links