Azov, Sea of

Inland sea between Ukraine and Russia, forming a gulf in the northeast of the Black Sea, to which it is connected by the narrow Kerch Strait. It has an area of 37,555 sq km/14,500 sq mi, and is extremely shallow, with an average depth of only 8 m/26 ft, and nowhere exceeding 16 m/52 ft. The sea is frozen for four to six months every year. Principal ports include Rostov-na-Donu, Mariupol, Kerch', and Taganrog. The main rivers flowing into the Sea of Azov are the Don, and the Kuban.

The industrial city of Azov is a good source of freshwater fish, though fishing on the sea has declined due to increasing salinity of the water. To the west of the Sea of Azov, and separated from it only by a long narrow sandy peninsula called Arabat, is the Sivash (Putrid) Sea, a series of very saline lagoons and marshes.