Levantine Sea to be the oldest known ocean crust worldwide. The Suez Canal was completed in 1869, linking the Levantine Sea to the Red Sea. The Red Sea's level 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 hypersaline 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 equalized with that of the Red Sea, the barrier to migration was removed, and plants and
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