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
Atlantic Europe continues today. There is a multi-national association of regions, which acts as a co-ordinator of Atlantic European regions and its interests. This is the "Atlantic Arc Commission". Operative since 1989, it includes 26 regions from four member States - Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal. The Atlantic Arc Commission is one of the seven "Geographical Commissions in the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe". Atlantic Europe Atlantic Europe is a geographical and anthropological term for the western portion of Europe which borders the Atlantic Ocean. The term may refer to the idea of Atlantic Europe as a cultural unit