Mediterranean Sea factors. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 created the first salt-water passage between the Mediterranean and Red Sea. The Red Sea is higher than the Eastern Mediterranean, so the canal serves as a tidal strait that pours Red Sea water into the Mediterranean. The Bitter Lakes, which are hyper-saline natural lakes that form part of the canal, blocked the migration of Red Sea species into the Mediterranean for many decades, but as the salinity of the lakes gradually equalised with that of the Red Sea, the barrier to migration was removed, and plants and animals from the Red
The Red Sea Sharks Assouline believed that "The Red Sea Sharks" represented "the culmination of his golden age", which had begun with "The Blue Lotus". He also commented that "it almost seemed as if Hergé had regained the pace and rhythm of his most creative period" with this story. In his psychoanalytical study of "The Adventures of Tintin", the literary critic Jean-Marie Apostolidès expressed the view that "The Red Sea Sharks" reflected a world in which traditional values have been degraded and everything – including human life – has become a commodity. He added that Rastapopoulos becomes "the embodiment of the global market" in