Gulf of Mexico - wikipedia Gulf of Mexico Jump to : navigation , search Gulf of Mexico Bathymetry of the Gulf of Mexico Location American Mediterranean Sea Coordinates 25 ° N 90 ° W  /  25 ° N 90 ° W  / 25 ; - 90  ( Gulf of Mexico ) Coordinates : 25 ° N 90 ° W  /  25 ° N 90 ° W  / 25 ; - 90  ( Gulf of Mexico ) River sources Rio Grande , Mississippi River Ocean / sea sources Atlantic Ocean , Caribbean Sea Basin countries United States Mexico Cuba Max . width 1,500 km ( 932.06 mi ) Surface area 1,550,000 km ( 600,000 sq mi ) Settlements Houston , New Orleans , Tampa , Havana , Campeche , Mobile , Gulfport , Tampico , Key West Galveston harbor by Verner Moore White Ship and oil rigs in the Gulf The Gulf of Mexico ( Spanish : Golfo de México ) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean , largely surrounded by the North American continent . It is bounded on the northeast , north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States , on the southwest and south by Mexico , and on the southeast by Cuba . The U.S. states of Texas , Louisiana , Mississippi , Alabama and Florida border the Gulf on the north , which are often referred to as the `` Third Coast '' in comparison with the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific coasts , or sometimes the `` south coast '' , in juxtaposition to the Great Lakes region being the `` north coast . '' The Gulf of Mexico formed approximately 300 million years ago as a result of plate tectonics . The Gulf of Mexico basin is roughly oval and is approximately 810 nautical miles ( 1,500 km ; 930 mi ) wide and floored by sedimentary rocks and recent sediments . It is connected to part of the Atlantic Ocean through the Florida Straits between the U.S. and Cuba , and with the Caribbean ( with which it forms the American Mediterranean Sea ) via the Yucatán Channel between Mexico and Cuba . With the narrow connection to the Atlantic , the Gulf experiences very small tidal ranges . The size of the Gulf basin is approximately 1.6 million km ( 615,000 sq mi ) . Almost half of the basin is shallow continental shelf waters . The basin contains a volume of roughly 2,500 quadrillion liters ( 550 quadrillion Imperial gallons , 660 quadrillion US gallons , 2.5 million km or 600,000 cu mi ) . Contents ( hide ) 1 Extent 2 Geology 3 History 3.1 European exploration 4 Shipwrecks 5 Geography 5.1 2006 earthquake 5.2 Maritime boundary delimitation agreements 6 Biota 7 Pollution 7.1 Ixtoc I explosion and oil spill 7.2 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill 7.3 Minor oil spills 7.3. 1 Brutus oil spill 8 See also 9 References 10 External links Extent ( edit ) The International Hydrographic Organization defines the southeast limit of the Gulf of Mexico as follows : A line leaving Cape Catoche Light ( 21 ° 37 ′ N 87 ° 04 ′ W  /  21.617 ° N 87.067 ° W  / 21.617 ; - 87.067 ) with the Light on Cape San Antonio in Cuba , through this island to the meridian of 83 ° W and to the Northward along this meridian to the latitude of the South point of the Dry Tortugas ( 24 ° 35'N ) , along this parallel Eastward to Rebecca Shoal ( 82 ° 35'W ) thence through the shoals and Florida Keys to the mainland at eastern end of Florida Bay , all the narrow waters between the Dry Tortugas and the mainland being considered to be within the Gulf . Geology ( edit ) Sediment in the Gulf of Mexico The consensus among geologists who have studied the geology of the Gulf of Mexico , is that before the Late Triassic , the Gulf of Mexico did not exist . Before the Late Triassic , the area now occupied by the Gulf of Mexico consisted of dry land , which included continental crust that now underlies Yucatán , within the middle of the large supercontinent of Pangea . This land lay south of a continuous mountain range that extended from north - central Mexico , through the Marathon Uplift in West Texas and the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma , and to Alabama where it linked directly to the Appalachian Mountains . It was created by the collision of continental plates that formed Pangea . As interpreted by Roy Van Arsdale and Randel T. Cox , this mountain range was breached in Late Cretaceous times by the formation of the Mississippi Embayment . Geologists and other Earth scientists agree in general that the present Gulf of Mexico basin originated in Late Triassic time as the result of rifting within Pangea . The rifting was associated with zones of weakness within Pangea , including sutures where the Laurentia , South American , and African plates collided to create it . First , there was a Late Triassic - Early Jurassic phase of rifting during which rift valleys formed and filled with continental red beds . Second , as rifting progressed through Early and Middle Jurassic time , continental crust was stretched and thinned . This thinning created a broad zone of thick transitional crust , which displays modest and uneven thinning with block faulting , and a broad zone of uniformly thinned transitional crust , which is half the typical thickness , 35 kilometers , of normal continental crust . It was at this time that tectonics first created a connection to the Pacific Ocean across central Mexico and later eastward to the Atlantic Ocean . This flooded the subsiding basin created by rifting and crustal thinning to create the Gulf of Mexico . While the Gulf of Mexico was a restricted basin , the subsiding transitional crust was blanketed by the widespread deposition of Louann Salt and associated anhydrite evaporites . Initially , during the Late Jurassic , continued rifting widened the Gulf of Mexico and progressed to the point that sea - floor spreading and formation of oceanic crust occurred . At this point , sufficient circulation with the Atlantic Ocean was established that the deposition of Louann Salt ceased . During the Late Jurassic through Early Cretaceous , the basin occupied by the Gulf of Mexico experienced a period of cooling and subsidence of the crust underlying it . The subsidence was the result of a combination of crustal stretching , cooling , and loading . Initially , the combination of crustal stretching and cooling caused about 5 -- 7 km of tectonic subsidence of the central thin transitional and oceanic crust . Because subsidence occurred faster than sediment could fill it , the Gulf of Mexico expanded and deepened . Later , loading of the crust within the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent coastal plain by the accumulation of kilometers of sediments during the rest of the Mesozoic and all of the Cenozoic further depressed the underlying crust to its current position about 10 -- 20 km below sea level . Particularly during the Cenozoic , thick clastic wedges built out the continental shelf along the northwestern and northern margins of the Gulf of Mexico . To the east , the stable Florida platform was not covered by the sea until the latest Jurassic or the beginning of Cretaceous time . The Yucatán platform was emergent until the mid-Cretaceous . After both platforms were submerged , the formation of carbonates and evaporites has characterized the geologic history of these two stable areas . Most of the basin was rimmed during the Early Cretaceous by carbonate platforms , and its western flank was involved during the latest Cretaceous and early Paleogene periods in a compressive deformation episode , the Laramide Orogeny , which created the Sierra Madre Oriental of eastern Mexico . In 2002 geologist Michael Stanton published a speculative essay suggesting an impact origin for the Gulf of Mexico at the close of the Permian , which could have caused the Permian -- Triassic extinction event . However , Gulf Coast geologists do not regard this hypothesis as having any credibility . Instead they overwhelmingly accept plate tectonics , not an asteroid impact , as having created the Gulf of Mexico as illustrated by papers authored by Kevin Mickus and others . This hypothesis is not to be confused with the Chicxulub Crater , a large impact crater on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico on the Yucatán Peninsula . Today , the Gulf of Mexico has the following 7 main areas : Gulf of Mexico basin , which contains the Sigsbee Deep and can be further divided into the continental rise , the Sigsbee Abyssal Plain , and the Mississippi Cone . Northeast Gulf of Mexico , which extends from a point east of the Mississippi River Delta near Biloxi to the eastern side of Apalachee Bay . South Florida Continental Shelf and Slope , which extends along the coast from Apalachee Bay to the Straits of Florida and includes the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas . Campeche Bank , which extends from the Yucatán Straits in the east to the Tabasco -- Campeche Basin in the west and includes Arrecife Alacran . Bay of Campeche , which is an isthmian embayment extending from the western edge of Campeche Bank to the offshore regions just east of the port of Veracruz . Western Gulf of Mexico , which is located between Veracruz to the south and the Rio Grande to the north . Northwest Gulf of Mexico , which extends from Alabama to the Rio Grande . History ( edit ) European exploration ( edit ) This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . ( June 2010 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message ) Fishing boats in Biloxi Graph showing the overall water temperature of the Gulf between Hurricanes Katrina and Rita . Although Katrina cooled waters in its path by up to 4 ° C , they had rebounded by the time of Rita 's appearance . Although Christopher Columbus was credited with the discovery of the Americas by Europeans , the ships in his four voyages never reached the Gulf of Mexico . Instead , Columbus sailed into the Caribbean around Cuba and Hispaniola . The first European exploration of the Gulf of Mexico was by Amerigo Vespucci in 1497 . He followed the coastal land mass of Central America before returning to the Atlantic Ocean via the Straits of Florida between Florida and Cuba . In his letters , Vespucci described this trip , and once Juan de la Cosa returned to Spain , a famous world map , depicting Cuba as an island , was produced . In 1506 , Hernán Cortés took part in the conquest of Hispaniola and Cuba , receiving a large estate of land and Indian slaves for his effort . In 1510 , he accompanied Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar , an aide of the governor of Hispaniola , in his expedition to conquer Cuba . In 1518 Velázquez put him in command of an expedition to explore and secure the interior of Mexico for colonization . In 1517 , Francisco Hernández de Córdoba discovered the Yucatán Peninsula . This was the first European encounter with an advanced civilization in the Americas , with solidly built buildings and a complex social organization which they recognized as being comparable to those of the Old World ; they also had reason to expect that this new land would have gold . All of this encouraged two further expeditions , the first in 1518 under the command of Juan de Grijalva , and the second in 1519 under the command of Hernán Cortés , which led to the Spanish exploration , military invasion , and ultimately settlement and colonization known as the Conquest of Mexico . Hernández did not live to see the continuation of his work : he died in 1517 , the year of his expedition , as the result of the injuries and the extreme thirst suffered during the voyage , and disappointed in the knowledge that Diego Velázquez had given precedence to Grijalva as the captain of the next expedition to Yucatán . In 1523 , Ángel de Villafañe sailed toward Mexico City , but was shipwrecked en route along the coast of Padre Island , Texas , in 1554 . When word of the disaster reached Mexico City , the viceroy requested a rescue fleet and immediately sent Villafañe marching overland to find the treasure - laden vessels . Villafañe traveled to Pánuco and hired a ship to transport him to the site , which had already been visited from that community . He arrived in time to greet García de Escalante Alvarado ( a nephew of Pedro de Alvarado ) , commander of the salvage operation , when Alvarado arrived by sea on July 22 , 1554 . The team labored until September 12 to salvage the Padre Island treasure . This loss , in combination with other ship disasters around the Gulf of Mexico , gave rise to a plan for establishing a settlement on the northern Gulf Coast to protect shipping and more quickly rescue castaways . As a result , the expedition of Tristán de Luna y Arellano was sent and landed at Pensacola Bay on August 15 , 1559 . On December 11 , 1526 , Charles V granted Pánfilo de Narváez a license to claim what is now the Gulf Coast of the United States , known as the Narváez expedition . The contract gave him one year to gather an army , leave Spain , be large enough to found at least two towns of 100 people each , and garrison two more fortresses anywhere along the coast . On April 7 , 1528 , they spotted land north of what is now Tampa Bay . They turned south and traveled for two days looking for a great harbor the master pilot Miruelo knew of . Sometime during these two days , one of the five remaining ships was lost on the rugged coast , but nothing else is known of it . In 1697 , Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville sailed for France and was chosen by the Minister of Marine to lead an expedition to rediscover the mouth of the Mississippi River and to colonize Louisiana which the English coveted . Iberville 's fleet sailed from Brest on October 24 , 1698 . On January 25 , 1699 , Iberville reached Santa Rosa Island in front of Pensacola founded by the Spanish ; he sailed from there to Mobile Bay and explored Massacre Island , later renamed Dauphin Island . He cast anchor between Cat Island and Ship Island ; and on February 13 , 1699 , he went to the mainland , Biloxi , with his brother Jean - Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville . On May 1 , 1699 , he completed a fort on the north - east side of the Bay of Biloxi , a little to the rear of what is now Ocean Springs , Mississippi . This fort was known as Fort Maurepas or Old Biloxi . A few days later , on May 4 , Pierre Le Moyne sailed for France leaving his teenage brother , Jean - Baptiste Le Moyne , as second in command to the French commandant . Shipwrecks ( edit ) The Mardi Gras shipwreck around the early - 19th century about 35 miles off the coast of Louisiana in 4,000 feet ( 1220 meters ) of water . She is believed to have been a privateer or trader . The shipwreck , whose real identity remains a mystery , lay forgotten at the bottom of the sea until it was discovered in 2002 by an oilfield inspection crew working for the Okeanos Gas Gathering Company ( OGGC ) . In May 2007 , an expedition , led by Texas A&M University and funded by OGGC under an agreement with the Minerals Management Service ( now BOEM ) , was launched to undertake the deepest scientific archaeological excavation ever attempted at that time to study the site on the seafloor and recover artifacts for eventual public display in the Louisiana State Museum . As part of the project educational outreach Nautilus Productions in partnership with BOEM , Texas A&M University , the Florida Public Archaeology Network and Veolia Environmental produced a one - hour HD documentary about the project , short videos for public viewing and provided video updates during the expedition . Video footage from the ROV was an integral part of this outreach and used extensively in the Mystery Mardi Gras Shipwreck documentary . On July 30 , 1942 the Robert E. Lee , captained by William C. Heath , was torpedoed by the German submarine U-166 . She was sailing southeast of the entrance to the Mississippi River when the explosion destroyed the # 3 hold , vented through the B and C decks and damaged the engines , the radio compartment and the steering gear . After the attack she was under escort by the USS PC - 566 , captained by LCDR Herbert G. Claudius , en route to New Orleans . The USS PC - 566 began dropping depth charges on a sonar contact , sinking the U-166 . The badly damaged Robert E. Lee first listed to port then to starboard and finally sank within about 15 minutes of the attack . One officer , nine crewmen and 15 passengers were lost . Ironically the passengers aboard the Robert E. Lee were primarily survivors of previous torpedo attacks by German U-boats . The wreck 's precise location was discovered during the C & C Marine survey that located the U-166 . The German submarine U-166 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany 's Kriegsmarine during World War II . The submarine was laid down on December 6 , 1940 at the Seebeckwerft ( part of Deutsche Schiff - und Maschinenbau AG , Deschimag ) at Wesermünde ( modern Bremerhaven ) as yard number 705 , launched on November 1 , 1941 and commissioned on March 23 , 1942 under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Hans - Günther Kuhlmann . After training with the 4th U-boat Flotilla , U-166 was transferred to the 10th U-boat Flotilla for front - line service on June 1 , 1942 . The U-boat sailed on only two war patrols and sank four ships totalling 7,593 gross register tons ( GRT ) . She was sunk on July 30 , 1942 in Gulf of Mexico . In 2001 the wreck of U-166 was found in 5,000 feet ( 1,500 m ) of water , less than two miles from where it had attacked the Robert E. Lee . An archaeological survey of the seafloor before construction of a natural gas pipeline led to the discoveries by C & C Marine archaeologists Robert A. Church and Daniel J. Warren . The sonar contacts consisted of two large sections lying approximately 500 feet apart at either end of a debris field that indicated the presence of a U-boat . Geography ( edit ) Gulf beach near Sabine Pass The Mississippi River Watershed is the largest drainage basin of the Gulf of Mexico Watershed . Map of northern part of Gulf of Mexico The shaded relief map of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean area . The Gulf of Mexico 's eastern , northern , and northwestern shores lie along the US states of Florida , Alabama , Mississippi , Louisiana , and Texas . The US portion of the Gulf coastline spans 1,680 miles ( 2,700 km ) , receiving water from 33 major rivers that drain 31 states . The Gulf 's southwestern and southern shores lie along the Mexican states of Tamaulipas , Veracruz , Tabasco , Campeche , Yucatán , and the northernmost tip of Quintana Roo . The Mexican portion of the Gulf coastline spans 1,743 miles ( 2,805 km ) . On its southeast quadrant the Gulf is bordered by Cuba . It supports major American , Mexican and Cuban fishing industries . The outer margins of the wide continental shelves of Yucatán and Florida receive cooler , nutrient - enriched waters from the deep by a process known as upwelling , which stimulates plankton growth in the euphotic zone . This attracts fish , shrimp , and squid . River drainage and atmospheric fallout from industrial coastal cities also provide nutrients to the coastal zone . The Gulf Stream , a warm Atlantic Ocean current and one of the strongest ocean currents known , originates in the gulf , as a continuation of the Caribbean Current - Yucatán Current - Loop Current system . Other circulation features include the anticyclonic gyres which are shed by the Loop Current and travel westward where they eventually dissipate , and a permanent cyclonic gyre in the Bay of Campeche . The Bay of Campeche in Mexico constitutes a major arm of the Gulf of Mexico . Additionally , the gulf 's shoreline is fringed by numerous bays and smaller inlets . A number of rivers empty into the gulf , most notably the Mississippi River and Rio Grande in the northern gulf , and the Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers in the southern gulf . The land that forms the gulf 's coast , including many long , narrow barrier islands , is almost uniformly low - lying and is characterized by marshes and swamps as well as stretches of sandy beach . The Gulf of Mexico is an excellent example of a passive margin . The continental shelf is quite wide at most points along the coast , most notably at the Florida and Yucatán Peninsulas . The shelf is exploited for its oil by means of offshore drilling rigs , most of which are situated in the western gulf and in the Bay of Campeche . Another important commercial activity is fishing ; major catches include red snapper , amberjack , tilefish , swordfish , and various grouper , as well as shrimp and crabs . Oysters are also harvested on a large scale from many of the bays and sounds . Other important industries along the coast include shipping , petrochemical processing and storage , military use , paper manufacture , and tourism . The gulf 's warm water temperature can feed powerful Atlantic hurricanes causing extensive human death and other destruction as happened with Hurricane Katrina in 2005 . In the Atlantic , a hurricane will draw up cool water from the depths and making it less likely that further hurricanes will follow in its wake ( warm water being one of the preconditions necessary for their formation ) . However , the Gulf is shallower ; when a hurricane passes over the water temperature may drop but it soon rebounds and becomes capable of supporting another tropical storm . The Gulf is considered aseismic ; however , mild tremors have been recorded throughout history ( usually 5.0 or less on the Richter magnitude scale ) . Earthquakes may be caused by interactions between sediment loading on the sea floor and adjustment by the crust . 2006 earthquake ( edit ) Main article : 2006 Gulf of Mexico earthquake On September 10 , 2006 , the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center reported that a magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurred about 250 miles ( 400 km ) west - southwest of Anna Maria , Florida , around 10 : 56 AM EDT . The quake was reportedly felt from Louisiana to Florida in the Southeastern United States . There were no reports of damage or injuries . Items were knocked from shelves and seiches were observed in swimming pools in parts of Florida . The earthquake was described by the USGS as an intraplate earthquake , the largest and most widely felt recorded in the past three decades in the region . According to the September 11 , 2006 issue of The Tampa Tribune , earthquake tremors were last felt in Florida in 1952 , recorded in Quincy , 20 miles ( 32 km ) northwest of Tallahassee Maritime boundary delimitation agreements ( edit ) Cuba and Mexico : Exchange of notes constituting an agreement on the delimitation of the exclusive economic zone of Mexico in the sector adjacent to Cuban maritime areas ( with map ) , of July 26 , 1976 . Cuba and United States of America : Maritime boundary agreement between the United States of America and the Republic of Cuba , of December 16 , 1977 . Mexico and United States of America : Treaty to resolve pending boundary differences and maintain the Rio Grande and Colorado River as the international boundary , of November 23 , 1970 ; Treaty on maritime boundaries between the United States of America and the United Mexican States ( Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean ) , of May 4 , 1978 , and Treaty between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Mexican States on the delimitation of the continental shelf in the Western Gulf of Mexico beyond 200 nautical miles ( 370 km ) , of June 9 , 2000 . On December 13 , 2007 , Mexico submitted information to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf ( CLCS ) regarding the extension of Mexico 's continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles . Mexico sought an extension of its continental shelf in the Western Polygon based on international law , UNCLOS , and bilateral treaties with the United States , in accordance with Mexico 's domestic legislation . On March 13 , 2009 , the CLCS accepted Mexico 's arguments for extending its continental shelf up to 350 NM into the Western Polygon . Since this would extend Mexico 's continental shelf well into territory claimed by the United States , however , Mexico and the U.S. would need to enter a bilateral agreement based on international law that delimits their respective claims . Places adjacent to Gulf of Mexico Texas United States Louisiana Mississippi Alabama Florida Mexico Tamaulipas Gulf of Mexico Atlantic Ocean Veracruz Mexico Tabasco Campeche Yucatán Quintana Roo Cuba Caribbean Biota ( edit ) Various biota include chemosynthetic communities near cold seeps and nonchemosynthetic communities such as bacteria and other micro -- benthos , meiofauna , macrofauna , and megafauna ( larger organisms such as crabs , sea pens , crinoids , and demersal fish and cetaceans including endangered ones ) are living in the Gulf of Mexico . Recently , resident Bryde 's whales within the gulf were classified as an endemic , unique subspecies and making them as one of the most endangered whales in the world . The Gulf of Mexico yields more finfish , shrimp , and shellfish annually than the south and mid-Atlantic , Chesapeake , and New England areas combined . The Smithsonian Institution Gulf of Mexico holdings are expected to provide an important baseline of understanding for future scientific studies on the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill . In Congressional testimony , Dr. Jonathan Coddington , Associate Director of Research and Collections at the Smithsonian 's National Museum of Natural History , provides a detailed overview of the Gulf collections and their sources which Museum staff have made available on an online map . The samples were collected for years by the former Minerals Management Service ( renamed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management , Regulation and Enforcement ) to help predict the potential impacts of future oil / gas explorations . Since 1979 , the specimens have been deposited in the national collections of the National Museum of Natural History . See also : List of invasive marine fish in the Gulf of Mexico Pollution ( edit ) Dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico The major environmental threats to the Gulf are agricultural runoff and oil drilling . There are frequent `` red tide '' algae blooms that kill fish and marine mammals and cause respiratory problems in humans and some domestic animals when the blooms reach close to shore . This has especially been plaguing the southwest and southern Florida coast , from the Florida Keys to north of Pasco County , Florida . The Gulf contains a hypoxic dead zone that runs east - west along the Texas - Louisiana coastline . In July 2008 , researchers reported that between 1985 and 2008 , the area roughly doubled in size and now stretches from near Galveston , Texas , to near Venice , Louisiana . It is now about 8,000 square miles ( 21,000 km ) , nearly the record . Poor agricultural practices in the northern portion of the Gulf of Mexico have led to a tremendous increase of nitrogen and phosphorus in neighboring marine ecosystems , which has resulted in algae blooms and a lack of available oxygen . Occurrences of masculinization and estrogen suppression were observed as a result . An October 2007 study of the Atlantic croaker found a disproportioned sex ratio of 61 % males to 39 % females in hypoxic Gulf sites . This was compared with a 52 % to 48 % male - female ratio found in reference sites , showing an impairment of reproductive output for fish populations inhabiting hypoxic coastal zones . There are 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells beneath the Gulf . These have generally not been checked for potential environmental problems . Ixtoc I explosion and oil spill ( edit ) Main articles : Ixtoc I and Ixtoc I oil spill In June 1979 , the Ixtoc I oil platform in the Bay of Campeche suffered a blowout leading to a catastrophic explosion , which resulted in a massive oil spill that continued for nine months before the well was finally capped . This was ranked as the largest oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico until the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 . Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill ( edit ) Main articles : Deepwater Horizon explosion and Deepwater Horizon oil spill On April 20 , 2010 , the Deepwater Horizon oil platform , located in the Mississippi Canyon about 40 miles ( 64 km ) off the Louisiana coast , suffered a catastrophic explosion ; it sank a day - and - a-half later . It was in the process of being sealed with cement for temporary abandonment , to avoid environmental problems . Although initial reports indicated that relatively little oil had leaked , by April 24 , it was claimed by BP that approximately 1,000 barrels ( 160 m ) of oil per day were issuing from the wellhead , about 1 - mile ( 1.6 km ) below the surface on the ocean floor . On April 29 , the U.S. government revealed that approximately 5,000 barrels ( 790 m ) per day , five times the original estimate , were pouring into the Gulf from the wellhead . The resulting oil slick quickly expanded to cover hundreds of square miles of ocean surface , posing a serious threat to marine life and adjacent coastal wetlands , and to the livelihoods of Gulf Coast shrimpers and fishermen . Coast Guard Rear Adm. Sally Brice O'Hare stated that the U.S. government will be `` employing booms , skimmers , chemical dispersants and controlled burns '' to combat the oil spill . By May 1 , 2010 , the oil spill cleanup efforts were underway , but hampered by rough seas and the `` tea like '' consistency of the oil . Cleanup operations were resumed after conditions became favorable . On May 27 , 2010 , The USGS had revised the estimate of the leak from 5,000 barrels per day ( 790 m / d ) to 12,000 -- 19,000 barrels per day ( 3,000 m / d ) an increase from earlier estimates . On July 15 , 2010 , BP announced that the leak stopped for the first time in 88 days . In July 2015 BP reached an $18.7 bn settlement with the US government , the states of Alabama , Florida , Louisiana , Mississippi and Texas , as well as 400 local authorities . To date BP 's cost for the clean - up , environmental and economic damages and penalties has reached $54 bn . Minor oil spills ( edit ) According to the National Response Center , the oil industry has thousands of minor accidents in the Gulf of Mexico every year . Brutus oil spill ( edit ) On May 12 , 2016 , a release of oil from subsea infrastructure on Shell 's Brutus oil rig released 2,100 barrels of oil . This leak created a visible 2 mile by 13 mile oil slick in the sea about 97 miles south of Port Fourchon , Louisiana , according to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement . See also ( edit ) Cantarell Field Brine pool Charlotte Harbor Estuary , Florida Gulf Coast Gulf of Mexico Foundation Hypoxia Jack 2 ( a test well in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico ) Orca Basin Outer Continental Shelf Territorial evolution of the Caribbean US Gulf of Mexico Protraction areas Atwater Valley East Cameron Eugene Island Garden Banks Green Canyon Keathley Canyon Mississippi Canyon Sigsbee Escarpment South Marsh Island Walker Ridge References ( edit ) Jump up ^ `` Gulf of Mexico - a sea in Atlantic Ocean '' . www.deepseawaters.com . Jump up ^ `` Gulf of Mexico '' . Geographic Names Information System . January 1 , 2000 . Retrieved July 8 , 2010 . ^ Jump up to : Huerta , A.D. , and D.L. 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Retrieved May 8 , 2009 . Jump up ^ `` FPAN Home '' . Florida Public Archaeology . Jump up ^ `` Mystery Mardi Gras Shipwreck '' . Nautilus Productions . Jump up ^ `` Mystery Mardi Gras Shipwreck Documentary '' . MUA . Jump up ^ Helgason , Guðmundur . `` Robert E. Lee '' . German U-boats of World War II -- uboat.net . Retrieved August 1 , 2015 . Jump up ^ Helgason , Guðmundur . `` U-166 '' . German U-boats of World War II -- uboat.net . Retrieved July 31 , 2015 . Jump up ^ `` Historic Shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico '' . gomr.mms.gov . Archived from the original on October 17 , 2008 . Retrieved February 22 , 2010 . Jump up ^ Daniel J. Warren , Robert A. Church . `` The Discovery of U -- 166 : Rewriting History with New Technology '' ( PDF ) . Offshore Technology Conference . Retrieved July 31 , 2015 . Jump up ^ `` Gulf of Mexico Watershed '' . EPA.gov . Retrieved December 6 , 2010 . Jump up ^ National Geophysical Data Center , 1999 . 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Jump up ^ `` Central Florida Feels Quake '' . Archived from the original on August 28 , 2007 . Retrieved December 27 , 2006 . Jump up ^ `` 6.0 Magnitude Earthquake In Gulf Of Mexico Shakes Southeast '' . www.observernews.net . ^ Jump up to : United States Geological Survey , September 11 , 2006 Archived October 14 , 2006 , at the Wayback Machine . Jump up ^ `` Mexico 's Attempt to Extend its Continental Shelf Beyond 200 Nautical Miles Serves as a Model for the International Community , Mexican Law Review , Volume V , Number 2 , Jan. -- June 2013 '' ( PDF ) . Jump up ^ Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Region ( November 2006 ) . `` Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales : 2007 -- 2012 . Western Planning Area Sales 204 , 207 , 210 , 215 , and 218 . Central Planning Area Sales 205 , 206 , 208 , 213 , 216 , and 222 . Draft Environmental Impact Statement . Volume I : Chapters 1 -- 8 and Appendices '' . U.S. Department of the Interior , Minerals Management Service , Gulf of Mexico OCS Region , New Orleans. page 3 - 27 -- 3 - 34 PDF Archived March 26 , 2009 , at the Wayback Machine ... Jump up ^ Rosel E.P. . Corkeron P ... Engleby L ... Epperson D ... Mullin D.K. . Soldevilla S.M. . Taylor L.B.. 2016 . STATUS REVIEW OF BRYDE 'S WHALES ( BALAENOPTERA EDENI ) IN THE GULF OF MEXICO UNDER THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT . NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS - SEFSC - 692 Jump up ^ Zongker , Brett ( July 21 , 2010 ) . `` Smithsonian Holdings to Aid Researchers in the Gulf '' . Associated Press . Archived from the original on July 24 , 2010 . Retrieved July 29 , 2010 . Jump up ^ Coddington , Jonathan ( June 15 , 2010 ) . `` Testimony to the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs , Oceans and Wildlife ; Committee on Natural Resources ; U.S. House of Representatives '' ( PDF ) . ( Smithsonian Ocean Portal ) . Retrieved July 29 , 2010 . Jump up ^ `` The Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone and Red Tides '' . Retrieved December 27 , 2006 . Jump up ^ Joel Achenbach , `` A ' Dead Zone ' in The Gulf of Mexico : Scientists Say Area That Cannot Support Some Marine Life Is Near Record Size '' , Washington Post , July 31 , 2008 Jump up ^ Thomas , Peter ; Md Saydur Rahman ( 2012 ) . `` Extensive Reproductive Disruption , Ovarian Masculinization and Aromatase Suppression in Atlantic Croaker in the Northern Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone '' . Proceedings of the Royal Society B : Biological Sciences . 279 ( 1726 ) : 28 -- 38 . doi : 10.1098 / rspb. 2011.0529 . ^ Jump up to : Donn , Jeff ( July 7 , 2010 ) . `` Gulf home to 27,000 abandoned wells '' . Burlington , Vermont : Burlington Free Press . pp. 1A . Jump up ^ `` Burning oil rig sinks , setting stage for spill ; 11 still missing '' , by Kevin McGill and Holbrook Mohr ( Associated Press ) , Boston Globe , April 23 , 2010 Jump up ^ `` Well from sunken rig leaking oil '' , by Cain Burdeau ( Associated Press ) , Boston Globe , April 25 , 2010 Jump up ^ Robertson , Campbell ; Kaufman , Leslie ( April 28 , 2010 ) . `` Size of Spill in Gulf of Mexico Is Larger Than Thought '' . The New York Times . Jump up ^ `` Race to plug leaking oil well off La . spurs new tactics '' , by Cain Burdeau ( Associated Press ) , Boston Globe , April 27 , 2010 Jump up ^ `` Gulf Oil Spill Worst in U.S. History ; Drilling Postponed '' , by Marianne Lavelle , National Geographic , May 27 , 2010 Jump up ^ Ed Crooks , Christopher Adams , . `` BP : Into uncharted waters '' . ft.com . Retrieved August 10 , 2015 . ^ Jump up to : Chow , Lorraine . `` Shell Oil Spill Dumps Nearly 90,000 Gallons of Crude Into Gulf '' . EcoWatch . Retrieved June 6 , 2016 . External links ( edit ) Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gulf of Mexico . Resource Database for Gulf of Mexico Research Gulf of Mexico Integrated Science Mystery Mardi Gras Shipwreck `` Mexico , Gulf of '' . Encyclopædia Britannica ( 11th ed . ) . 1911 . `` Mexico , Gulf of '' . Collier 's New Encyclopedia . 1921 . Bathymetry of the Northern Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean East of Florida United States Geological Survey The Present State of the West - Indies : Containing an Accurate Description of What Parts Are Possessed by the Several Powers in Europe written by Thomas Kitchin , 1778 , in which Kitchin discusses , in chapter 1 , why the Gulf should have been called the `` West Indian Sea . 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Question: how many gallons of water in the gulf of mexico

2,500 quadrillion liters (550 quadrillion Imperial gallons, 660 quadrillion US gallons, 2.5 million km3 or 600,000 cu mi)


Aqua - Lung - wikipedia Aqua - Lung Jump to : navigation , search original name for open circuit scuba For the firms named Aqua Lung , see Aqua Lung / La Spirotechnique and Aqua Lung America . For other uses , see Aqualung ( disambiguation ) . Further information : Scuba set This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . ( May 2012 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message ) Aqua - Lung was the original English name of the first open - circuit , self - contained underwater breathing apparatus ( or `` SCUBA '' ) to reach worldwide popularity and commercial success . This class of equipment is now commonly referred to as a diving regulator or demand valve . The Aqua - Lung was invented in Paris during the winter of 1942 -- 1943 by two Frenchmen : the engineer Émile Gagnan and Naval Lieutenant ( `` lieutenant de vaisseau '' ) Jacques Cousteau . It allowed Cousteau and Gagnan to film and explore more easily underwater . Contents ( hide ) 1 Invention and patent 2 Open / closed circuit 3 `` Tadpoles '' 4 Trademark issues 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Invention and patent ( edit ) An earlier underwater breathing regulator , known as the régulateur , was invented in France in 1860 by Benoît Rouquayrol . He first conceived it as a device to help assist in escaping from flooded mines . The Rouquayrol regulator was adapted to diving in 1864 , when Rouquayrol met the lieutenant de vaisseau Auguste Denayrouze . The Rouquayrol - Denayrouze apparatus went into mass production and commercialization on 28 August 1865 , when the French Navy Minister ordered the first apparatuses . After 1884 , several companies and entrepreneurs bought or inherited the patent and produced it until 1965 . In 1942 , during the German occupation of France , the patent was held by the Bernard Piel Company ( Établissements Bernard Piel ) . One of their apparatuses went to Émile Gagnan , an engineer employed by the Air Liquide company . Gagnan miniaturized and adapted it to gas generators in response to a fuel shortage , which was a consequence of German requisitioning . Gagnan 's boss , Henri Melchior , knew that his son - in - law Jacques - Yves Cousteau was looking for an automatic demand regulator to increase the useful period of the underwater breathing apparatus invented by Commander Yves le Prieur , so he introduced Cousteau to Gagnan in December 1942 . On Cousteau 's initiative , the Gagnan 's regulator was adapted to diving , and the new Cousteau - Gagnan patent was registered some weeks later in 1943 . After the war , in 1946 , both men founded La Spirotechnique ( as a division of Air Liquide ) in order to mass - produce and sell their invention , this time under a new 1945 patent , and known as CG45 ( `` C '' for Cousteau , `` G '' for Gagnan and `` 45 '' for 1945 ) . This same CG45 regulator , produced for more than ten years and commercialized in France as of 1946 , was the first to actually be called the `` Aqua - Lung '' . In France , the terms scaphandre autonome ( `` scuba set '' ) , scaphandre Cousteau - Gagnan ( `` Cousteau - Gagnan scuba set '' ) , or CG45 were meaningful enough for commercialization , but to sell his invention in English - speaking countries , Cousteau needed an appealing name following English language standards . He then coined the trade name Aqua - Lung . In the late 1940s and early 1950s , La Spirotechnique started exporting the Aqua - Lung and leasing its patent to foreign companies ( like the British Siebe Gorman ) . These operations found great success . The Rouquayrol - Denayrouze apparatus did n't achieve as much success because the compressed - air tanks made with the technology of the time could only hold 30 atmospheres , which allowed dives of only 30 minutes at no more than ten meters deep . Before 1945 , French divers preferred their then traditional diving helmets and diving dresses . When the Aqua - Lung became available for commercial use , divers around the world found a scuba device smaller and easier to carry than its precursor , which in fact was almost completely unknown outside France . In addition , and most importantly , the Aqua - Lung could be mounted on stronger and reliable air tanks holding up to 200 atmospheres , allowing extension of diving duration to more than an hour at significant depths ( including the needed time for decompression stops ) . The first Cousteau - Gagnan Aqua - Lungs ( like the CG45 of 1945 or the Mistral of 1955 ) were mainly twin - hose open - circuit scuba . They have since been made by various manufacturers with varying design details and numbers of cylinders . Like modern open - circuit scuba with single - hose regulators , they consisted of one or more high pressure diving cylinders and a diving regulator ( the Aqua - Lung ) that supplied the diver with breathing gas at ambient pressure via a demand valve . For more than ten years , seen in the films Épaves ( Shipwrecks , 1943 ) and Le Monde du silence ( The Silent World , 1956 ) the main scuba equipment used by Cousteau and his divers was an Aqua - Lung mounted on three diving cylinders , one being used as a safe air reserve . The Aqua - Lung allowed Cousteau 's team and other divers to spend more time underwater and , along with the invention of several underwater cameras , to film and explore more freely . Open / closed circuit ( edit ) Classic twin - hose Cousteau - type aqualung The original `` Aqua - Lung '' was an `` open - circuit '' design ( so - called because gas flows from the cylinder , to the diver , out into the water ) . Other scuba systems that were invented before the `` Aqua - Lung '' were `` closed circuit '' ( or `` rebreather '' ) . In these apparatuses , breathing gas flows from the cylinder to the diver , through a scrubber ( which removes carbon dioxide ) , back to a secondary bag or counter-lung , and then back to the diver again , in a closed loop . The Aqua - Lung was not the first breathing apparatus , but it was the most popular . In 1934 , René Commeinhes developed a firefighter 's breathing apparatus which was adapted for diving by his son Georges in 1937 . It was used by the French Navy during the first few years of World War II . The twin - hose or double hose Aqua - Lung `` demand regulator '' forms the foundation of all modern scuba regulators . A diaphragm is used to deliver the breathing gas to the diver on demand , at ambient water pressure . The first modern two stage , single hose regulator was manufactured and distributed as the `` Sport Diver '' by Divers Supply in Wilmington California beginning in 1951 . This design , an offshoot of surface supplied commercial gear , uses a first stage regulator mounted at the tank valve delivering air to a mouthpiece - mounted second stage via a small - diameter intermediate - pressure ( about 140 psi ) hose . At about the same time as Divers Supply began selling the Sport Diver regulator , Australian Ted Eldred designed a similar single hose system which he marketed as the Porpoise . Today , virtually all modern open - circuit SCUBA gear uses this design , though Aqualung did market a `` modern '' double hose Mistral model in 2005 and 2006 . There is controversy over the invention of the first single hose regulator . The invention was motivated by an effort to bypass Aqua - Lung 's patent on the double hose regulator . This patent involved the return of exhaust gas to the regulator to reduce the differential pressure and therefore reduce work of breathing . The single hose regulator accomplishes this by relocating a portion of the regulator to the point of exhaust , rather than routing the exhaust back to the regulator . Divers Supply , which had been supplying commercial surface - supplied breathing systems , replaced the surface air supply with a tank - mounted first stage pressure regulator . Ted Eldred claims to have developed his nearly identical system contemporaneously in Australia . Since neither party chose to patent the invention , it is difficult now to know if either design was inspired by the other or if , in fact , they were truly spontaneous inventions . There seems to be some evidence that the Divers Supply unit hit the market just prior to the Eldred Porpoise , but there is no evidence that Eldred was aware of it . `` Tadpoles '' ( edit ) This section contains information of unclear or questionable importance or relevance to the article 's subject matter . Please help improve this section by clarifying or removing superfluous information . If importance can not be established , the section is likely to be moved to another article , pseudo-redirected , or removed . Find sources : `` Aqua - lung '' -- news newspapers books scholar JSTOR ( November 2017 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message ) In the early years of scuba diving in Britain , `` tadpole '' was a nickname for a type of diving gear that had two meanings : A type of ex-Royal Air Force pilot 's oxygen cylinder that had a tapering end , and was often used as an aqualung cylinder in the 1960s and earlier . An early make of Siebe Gorman aqualung with a twin - hose regulator and two air cylinders . Both ends were hemispherical , and were 13 inches long and 7 inches in diameter . Siebe Gorman 's trade catalog describing this set showed two sorts of diver wearing this set , both with weighted boots , and with no mention of free - swimming . A 1950s Royal Navy diving manual also said that the Aqua - Lung was only for bottom - walking diving . Siebe Gorman either had no idea about sport diving then , or else was against sport diving , and expected aqualungs to be used for light commercial diving . Later most recreational divers were free - swimming scuba divers , with bottom - walkers virtually restricted to those doing commercial work . Trademark issues ( edit ) Aqualung , Aqua - Lung , and Aqua Lung are registered trademarks for scuba diving breathing equipment . That trade name was originally owned in the United States by a company known as U.S. Divers ( now Aqua Lung America ) . The term was in use before the trademark was registered by René Bussoz , who owned a sporting goods store called René Sports in Los Angeles . He obtained a contract with the French firm Air Liquide , the parent company of Aqua Lung / La Spirotechnique , to import the new scuba equipment into the United States for sale on the Pacific coast ( SPACO had the contract for the Atlantic coast ) . Bussoz changed the name of his company to U.S. Divers and registered the name Aqua - Lung . This turned out to be a wise move , because when the French company decided not to renew his five year contract , no one had even heard of their product , but everyone was familiar with the names he had registered . Bussoz sold the company and the trade names for a handsome profit , returning to France . The name US Divers sounded very official and very American , but it was owned by a Frenchman and sold to a French company . Air Liquide held the patent on the original `` Aqualung '' ( also written as `` Aqua - Lung '' or `` Aqua Lung '' ) until the patent expired sometime around 1960 to 1963 . The term `` Aqualung '' , as far as is known , first appeared in print on page 3 of Jacques - Yves Cousteau 's first book , The Silent World , in 1953 . Public use of the word `` aqualung '' , and public interest in Aqualungs and scuba diving , were started around 1953 in English - speaking counties by a National Geographical Society Magazine article about Cousteau 's underwater archaeological expedition to Grand Congloué . In France , aqualung diving was popularized by Cousteau 's movie Épaves , while his book The Silent World also helped significantly . As with some other registered trademarks , the term `` aqualung '' became a genericized trademark in English - speaking countries as a result of common use by the public and in publications , including the BSAC 's official diving manuals . Presumably , lawyers for Cousteau or Air Liquide could have slowed or stopped this genericization by taking prompt action , but this seems not to have been done in Britain , where Siebe Gorman held the British rights to both the trade name and the patent . In the United States , the term aqualung was popularized by the popular television series Sea Hunt ( 1958 ) . This series never said that an aqualung could be called anything else , or made by anyone else , but the company that supplied Mike Nelson , the lead character in the series . The Voit Rubber Corporation provided most of the diving equipment used in this series , but actual Aqua - Lungs appeared in early episodes . The word `` aqualung '' was commonly used in speech and in publications as a term for an open - circuit , demand valve - controlled breathing apparatus ( even after Air Liquide 's patent expired and other manufacturers started making identical equipment ) , occasionally also for rebreathers , and in figurative uses ( such as `` the water spider 's aqualung of air bubbles '' ) . The word entered the Russian language as the generic noun акваланг ( `` akvalang '' ) . That word was taken into Lithuanian as the generic noun `` akvalangas '' ; `` langas '' happens to be Lithuanian for `` window '' , giving a literal meaning `` aqua - window '' . In the United States , U.S. Divers managed to keep `` Aqualung '' as a trademark . The acronym `` SCUBA '' , or `` Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus '' , originated in the United States Navy , where it meant a frogman 's rebreather . Scuba became the generic term for that type of open - circuit breathing set , and soon the acronym SCUBA became a noun -- `` scuba '' -- all in lower - case . `` Scuba '' was a trademark for a time -- used by Healthways , now known as Scubapro - one of the competitors of US Divers . In Britain , Siebe Gorman ( who held the rights to the tradename `` Aqualung '' ) made no serious attempt to control use of the word , and `` aqualung '' remained a common public generic word for that sort of apparatus - including in the British Sub-Aqua Club 's official publications -- for many years . Aqua Lung America , the current name of the U.S. Divers company , now makes rebreathers whose tradenames or catalog descriptions include the word `` Aqualung '' . The name U.S. Divers is now used as a trademark by Aqua Lung America for its line of snorkeling equipment . See also ( edit ) Underwater diving portal Aqualung ( Jethro Tull album ) Timeline of underwater technology , The diving regulator reappears for details of the development of a similar regulator , not related to the Aqua - Lung Timeline of underwater technology , World War II for details of the development of the Aqua - Lung Scuba sets for description of modern breathing sets Frogman , Mistakes in fiction for common mistakes in depicting scuba gear References ( edit ) Jump up ^ After Cousteau himself , who had coined the word , the spelling was originally Aqua - Lung . See Jacques - Yves Cousteau & Frédéric Dumas , Le Monde du silence , Éditions de Paris , Paris , 1953 , Dépôt légal 1er Trimestre 1954 - Édition N ° 228 -- Impression N ° 741 ( in French ) Jump up ^ Both regulators -- the one from 1860 invented by Benoît Rouquayrol and the twin - hose Cousteau - type invented in 1943 by Gagnan and Cousteau -- received , among some others , the name of régulateur ( French for `` regulator '' ) . For the 1860 régulateur see the page of the Rouquayrol - Denayrouze apparatus in the Musée du Scaphandre website ( a diving museum in Espalion , south of France ) Archived June 30 , 2011 , at the Wayback Machine ... For the word régulateur as used by Cousteau himself just check page 8 in the first French edition of Cousteau 's book The Silent World : Jacques - Yves Cousteau & Frédéric Dumas , Le Monde du silence , Éditions de Paris , Paris , 1953 , Dépôt légal 1er Trimestre 1954 -- Édition N ° 228 -- Impression N ° 741 ( in French ) . Jump up ^ Than , Ker ( 11 June 2010 ) . `` Jacques Cousteau Centennial : What He Did , Why He Matters '' . news.nationalgeographic.com . Retrieved 3 March 2016 . Jump up ^ Bahuet , Eric ( 19 October 2003 ) . `` Plongee souterraine - avec ou sans bulle ? '' . FFESSM . Retrieved 3 March 2016 . Jump up ^ List of French companies which produced the Rouquayrol and Denayroze patents ( Association les pieds lourds website , in French ) . Archived 2012 - 04 - 02 at the Wayback Machine . Jump up ^ Jacques - Yves Cousteau with Frédéric Dumas , The Silent World ( London : Hamish Hamilton , 1953 ) . Jump up ^ The Musée du Scaphandre website ( a diving museum in Espalion , south of France ) mentions how Gagnan and Cousteau adapted a Rouquayrol - Denayrouze apparatus by means of the Air Liquide company ( in French ) . Archived 2012 - 10 - 30 at the Wayback Machine . Jump up ^ Description of the Rouquayrol - Denayrouze apparatus in the Musée du Scaphandre website ( a diving museum in Espalion , south of France ) Jump up ^ Cousteau quickly describes the two Aqua - Lung prototypes used to shoot the film Épaves in 1943 , when Cousteau mentions his cylinders ' highest pressure ( in French ) . Jump up ^ Capitaine de frégate PHILIPPE TAILLIEZ , Plongées sans câble , Arthaud , Paris , January 1954 , Dépôt légal 1er trimestre 1954 -- Édition N ° 605 -- Impression N ° 243 ( in French ) Jump up ^ `` Jacques Cousteau , French ocean explorer and engineer '' . Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved 3 March 2016 . Jump up ^ Campbell , Bob ( Summer 2006 ) . `` Siebe - Gorman 's ' Tadpole ' set '' . Historical Diving Times ( 39 ) . Retrieved 3 August 2017 -- via Vintage double hose regs collector - Siebe Gorman - Heinke . External links ( edit ) Aqua Lung manufacturers site ( English , French , German , Italian , Czech , and Japanese language versions available ) Aqua Lung ( Also known as `` Mistral Regulator '' because of a particular model from 1955 . The original Aqua - Lung was the CG45 model from 1945 ) ( hide ) Underwater breathing apparatus Surface - supplied Bailout bottle Diver 's umbilical Diving air compressor Snuba Standard diving dress Open - circuit scuba Alternative air source Aqua - lung Bailout bottle Diving regulator Porpoise regulator Scuba set Rebreathers Carleton CDBA CDLSE Cis - Lunar Cryogenic rebreather CUMA DSEA Dolphin FROGS Halcyon PVR - BASC IDA71 Interspiro DCSC KISS LAR - 5 LAR - 6 LAR - V LARU Porpoise Ray Siebe Gorman CDBA Siva Viper Helmets and masks Diving helmet Full - face mask Related Booster pump Breathing gas Breathing performance of regulators Carbon dioxide scrubber Cascade filling system Diving air compressor Diving bell Diving cylinder Gas blending Gas blending for scuba diving Hydrostatic test Nitrox production membrane method pressure - swing adsorption Oxygen compatibility Sustained load cracking Testing and inspection of diving cylinders Commons Glossary Portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aqua-lung&oldid=808966164 '' Categories : 1943 introductions Underwater breathing apparatus Diving equipment manufacturers Jacques Cousteau Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links Articles with short description Articles needing additional references from May 2012 All articles needing additional references Wikipedia articles needing clarification from November 2017 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from November 2017 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Azərbaycanca Čeština Bahasa Indonesia Italiano മലയാളം مصرى 日本 語 Polski Português Slovenčina Suomi Tagalog 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 6 November 2017 , at 09 : 20 . 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Question: who is given credit for inventing the aqua lung