Atlantic Ocean encircled by the Gulf Stream, North Atlantic Drift, and North Equatorial Current. This population of seaweed probably originated from Tertiary ancestors on the European shores of the former Tethys Ocean and has, if so, maintained itself by vegetative growth, floating in the ocean for millions of years. Other species endemic to the Sargasso Sea include the sargassum fish, a predator with algae-like appendages who hovers motionless among the "Sargassum". Fossils of similar fishes have been found in fossil bays of the former Tethys Ocean, in what is now the Carpathian region, that were similar to the Sargasso Sea. It is
North Atlantic Gyre warms. This is due to a weakening of the westerly winds, resulting in reduced wind stress and heat exchange, providing a greater period of time for the gyre water temperatures to rise. Collections of aerosols, marine particles, and ocean water in the North Atlantic Gyre from 1990-1992 have led to measurements in lead isotope ratios. These measurements exceed those associated with atmospheric pollution carried from Europe by the trade winds, implying that the majority of lead contamination in the gyre in the early 1990s was primarily caused by American emissions. The surface layers of the Sargasso Sea were used to