Caribbean Sea attracted pirates such as Samuel Bellamy and Blackbeard. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Caribbean Sea as follows: Note that, although Barbados is an island on the same continental shelf, it is considered to be in the Atlantic Ocean rather than the Caribbean Sea. The Caribbean Sea is an oceanic sea largely situated on the Caribbean Plate. The Caribbean Sea is separated from the ocean by several island arcs of various ages. The youngest stretches from the Lesser Antilles to the Virgin Islands to the north east of Trinidad and Tobago off the coast of Venezuela. This
Caribbean Sea covering about , most of which are located off the Caribbean Islands and the Central American coast. Among them stands out the Belize Barrier Reef with an area of which was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996. It forms part of the Great Mayan Reef also known as the MBRS and being over in length is the world's second longest. It runs along the Caribbean coasts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. During the past ten years, unusually warm Caribbean waters have been increasingly threatening Caribbean coral reefs. Coral reefs support some of the most diverse marine habitats in