The Gulf of Mexico covers a surface area of 579,153 sq miles (1.5 million sq km), and is measured 994 miles (1,600 km) west to east, and 559 miles (900 km) north to south.
After travelling from the aorta, blood travels through peripheral arteries into smaller arteries called arterioles, and eventually to capillaries. Arterioles help in regulating blood pressure by the variable contraction of the smooth muscle of their walls, and deliver blood to the capillaries.
Veins and arteries are both types of blood vessels but arteries carry blood away from the heart to the rest of the body while veins carry blood to the heart from the rest of the body. All arteries except the pulmonary and umbilical arteries carry oxygenated blood while all veins carry deoxygenated blood. The arteries are basis of the circulatory system and their main function is to deliver oxygen and nutrients through blood to all the cells in the body.