A strait is a narrow channel of water that connects two larger bodies of water, and thus lies between two land masses. The terms strait, channel, passage, sound, and firth can be synonymous and interchangeable, although each is sometimes differentiated with varying senses. Many straits are economically important. Straits can lie on important shipping routes, and wars have been fought for control of these straits.
Numerous artificial channels, called canals, have been constructed to connect two bodies of water over land. Although rivers and canals often form a bridge between two large lakes or a lake and a sea, and these seem to suit the formal definition of straits, they are not usually referred to as straits. Straits are typically much larger, wider structures that do not have water running in a single direction, and normally connect two seas.
Straits are the duals of isthmi. That is, while straits lie between two land masses and connect two larger bodies of water, isthmi lie between two bodies of water and connect two larger land masses.
Agate Pass - Puget Sound
Agattu Strait - Aleutians
Akashi Strait - Japan
Amchitka Pass - Aleutians
Anegada Passage - Virgin Islands and Anguilla
Arthur Kill - Staten Island and New Jersey
Bab-el-Mandeb - connects Red Sea to Gulf of Aden / Arabian Sea
Balabac Strait - between Palawan, Philippines and Borneo
Strait of Baltiysk - between Vistula Bay and Gdansk Bay
Bangka Strait - between Sumatra and Bangka Island
Bass Strait - between mainland Australia and Tasmania
Strait of Belle Isle - between Newfoundland and mainland Canada
Bering Strait - between Asia and North America
Bransfield Strait - between South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula
Bohol Strait - also called Cebu Strait, between Bohol and Cebu in the Philippines
Strait of Bonifacio - between Corsica and Sardinia
Bosporus - between Europe and Asia
Bungo Channel - Japan
Cabot Strait - between Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island
Strait of Canso - between Cape Breton Island and mainland Nova Scotia
Carquinez Strait - connects San Pablo Bay and Suisun Bay, California
Chatham Strait - between Chichagof Island and Admiralty Island, Alaska
Clarence Strait - between Prince of Wales Island and mainland Alaska
Colvos Passage - Puget Sound
Cook Strait - between the North Island and South Island of New Zealand
Dalco Passage - Puget Sound
Dampier Strait (Papua New Guinea) - between New Britain and Umboi Island
Dampier Strait (Indonesia) - between Bird's Head Peninsula and Raja Ampat Islands
Danish straits - between Scandinavia and Jutland
Dardanelles - between Europe and Asia
Davis Strait - between Baffin Island and Greenland
Deception Pass - Puget Sound
Denmark Strait - between Greenland and Iceland
Detroit River - between Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie
Dolphin and Union Strait - between Northwest Territories and Victoria Island
Strait of Dover or Pas de Calais - (English Channel)
Dragon's Mouth (Boca del Dragón) - between Trinidad and Venezuela
Drake Passage - between South America and Antarctica
East River - between Manhattan, the Bronx and Long Island
English Channel - between Great Britain and France
Falkland Sound, - between West Falkland and East Falkland
Straits of Florida - between Florida and Cuba
Foveaux Strait - between the South Island and Stewart Island of New Zealand
Fury and Hecla Strait - between Baffin Island and Melville Peninsula,
formosa strait in asia
Strait of Georgia - between Vancouver Island and British Columbia
Strait of Gibraltar - between Europe and Africa
Golden Gate - between the Marin headlands and San Francisco, California
Great Belt - Denmark
Guadeloupe Passage - north of Guadeloupe, ((West Indies))
Harlem River - between Manhatten and The Bronx
Hecate Strait - between Queen Charlotte Island and British Columbia
Honguedo Strait - between Anticosti Island and Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec
Strait of Hormuz - between Arabia and Iran
Hoyo Strait - Japan
Hudson Strait - between Baffin Island and Quebec
Johor Strait - between Singapore and the state of Johor of Malaysia
Strait of Juan de Fuca - between Vancouver Island, Canada and Olympic Peninsula, United States
Kalmar Strait - between Öland and Småland
Kanmon Strait - between Honshu and Kyushu
Kara Strait
Karimata Strait - between Sumatra and Borneo
Kerch Strait - between Crimea and Russia
Kill Van Kull - between Staten Island and Bayonne, New Jersey
Kitan Strait - Japan
Korea Strait - between Korea and Japan
Kwangtung Strait
La Perouse Strait (also Soya Strait) - between Sakhalin and Japan
Lancaster Strait
Little Belt - Denmark
Lombok Strait
Luzon Strait - between Taiwan and Luzon, Philippines
Straits of Mackinac - between Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas
Strait of Magellan - between South America and Tierra del Fuego
Makassar Strait - between Borneo and Sulawesi
Straits of Malacca - between Malaysia and Sumatra
Mare Island Strait
Martinique Passage - between Dominica and Martinique
McClure Strait - Melville Island and Banks Island
Menai Strait - between Anglesey and mainland Wales
Strait of Messina - between Sicily and mainland Italy
Mindoro Strait - between Mindoro and Palawan in the Philippines
Mona Passage - between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico
Myeongnyang Strait - between Jindo Island and mainland South Korea
Nares Strait - between Ellesmere Island and Northern Greenland and connects Baffin Bay with Lincoln Sea / the Arctic Sea.
The Narrows - between Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City
Naruto Strait - Japan
North Channel - between Northern Ireland and Scotland
Northumberland Strait - between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick/Nova Scotia
Oresund - between Denmark and Sweden
Strait of Otranto - between Italy and Albania
Palk Strait - between India and Sri Lanka
Pertuis d'Antioche - on the Atlantic coast of Western France
Pickering Passage - Puget Sound
Port Washington Narrows - Puget Sound
Porte des Morts - between the Bay of Green Bay and Lake Michigan
Panama - Between North America and South America (Panama Canal)
Qiongzhou Strait - Hainan and Guangdong
Rich Passage - Puget Sound
San Bernardino Strait - between Luzon and Samar in the Philippines
San Juanico Strait - between Samar and Leyte islands in the Philippines
Serpent's Mouth (Boca del Serpiente) - between Trinidad and Venezuela
Skagerrak between Denmark, Norway and Sweden
Shelikof Strait - between mainland Alaska and Kodiak Island
Shimonoseki Strait
Strait of Dover - part of the English Channel between Great Britain and France
Strait of Sicily - between Sicily and Africa
Singapore Strait - between Singapore and Indonesia (Sumatra)
Smith Strait
Sumba Strait - between Flores and Sumba, Indonesia
Sunda Strait - between Sumatra and Java
Surigao Strait - between Leyte and Mindanao islands in the Philippines
Tablas Strait - between Mindoro and Panay islands in the Philippines
Tacoma Narrows - Puget Sound
Taiwan Strait - between Taiwan and Mainland China
Tanon Strait - between Negros and Cebu islands in the Philippines
Strait of Tartary (also Mamiya Strait and Strait of Nevelskoi) - Sakhalin
Strait of Tiran - between the Sinai peninsula and Saudi Arabia
Torres Strait - between New Guinea and Australia
Tsugaru Strait - between Hokkaido and Honshu
Tsushima Strait - between Iki Island and Korean Peninsula
Soya Strait -
Vitiaz Strait - between New Guinea and Long Island
Windward Passage - between Cuba and Hispaniola
Yucatan Channel - between Mexico and Cuba
Well-known straits in the world include:
the palk strait, between India and Sri Lanka, the location of Ram Sethu and rich in natural resources
the Strait of Dover, between England and France, which connects the North Sea with the English Channel
the Strait of Gibraltar, the only natural passage between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea
the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, which connect the Mediterranean and the Black Sea
the Strait of Magellan, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans north of Tierra del Fuego
the Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia, which connects the Pacific and Arctic Oceans
the Strait of Hormuz connecting the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, through which Persian Gulf petroleum is shipped to the world
the Strait of Malacca, which lies between Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra, and connects the Indian Ocean with
the South China Sea. (It is one of the highest-volume shipping lanes in the world.)
and the Bass Strait, which lies between mainland Australia and Tasmania, and connects the Indian Ocean with the Pacific Ocean.