The Gulf Stream, dramatized by painter Winslow Homer, has had many admirers ranging from Juan Ponce de Léon, who claims to have discovered it, to Ernest Hemingway, who fished its waters.
Ulanski starts this book with a whirlwind tour. Warm waters dead-end in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, spill out around the Florida coast, barrel north toward CapeHatteras and bounce eastward. But contrary to a widely held belief, the Gulf Stream warms Northern Europe only slightly. It has a greater impact on New England northeasters, which form when warm winds collide with polar air.
Ulanski likens the Gulf Stream to a huge living organism moving below the surface. Its waters contain plankton, jellyfish, sargassum weed, dolphin and wahoo. But its stars are giant bluefin tuna, weighing 300 to 600 pounds.
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