What is the largest animal in Lake Baikal?

The largest species is the Siberian sturgeon, which sometimes measures more than 6 1/2 feet (2 meters) long. The only mammal is the Baikal seal. The first hydrothermal vents, or hot-water springs, ever discovered in a freshwater lake were found at the bottom of Lake Baikal in 1990.



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Unique Wildlife Among these interesting creatures are the Baikal omul fish, Baikal oil fish and most notably, the Baikal seal or nerpa as they are called in Russian. This is one of the only seal species to live entirely in fresh water.

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The world's deepest ancient lake, Lake Baikal in Russia, has a diverse endemic fauna, including Baikal seals Pusa sibirica, the apex predator of the lake and the only pinniped species inhabiting exclusively freshwater systems.

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Not only is Lake Baikal safe to swim in, but it also boasts some of the purest water in the world. The only drawback is the temperature - even during the warmer months, a dip in the lake is pretty invigorating.

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Baikal is one of the few lakes on the planet in which, according to the standards, it is allowed to take water for drinking from open reservoirs. Water is extracted from special layers of the lake, which were on the surface of the lake hundreds of years ago, from a depth of 400m.

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Micropterus salmoides. Largemouth bass are top predators in freshwater lakes and rivers. The effects of their presence (or absence) can cascade throughout the ecosystem.

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Unique Wildlife Among these interesting creatures are the Baikal omul fish, Baikal oil fish and most notably, the Baikal seal or nerpa as they are called in Russian. This is one of the only seal species to live entirely in fresh water.

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Dimensions of Lake Baikal: It is 636 km long, 79 km wide. There are 27 islands in Lake Baikal, most of them being uninhabited. Baikal Lake's coastline measures 2100 kilometers (around 1300 miles). More than 300 streams and rivers flow into Lake Baikal, but there is just one outlet, the Angara.

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Forming c. 12 million years ago, the largest lake ever known to have existed on Earth is Megalake Paratethys, which extended from the eastern Alps of Europe to what is now Kazakhstan in central Asia.

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John Maerz, Professor of Vertebrate Ecology at the University of Georgia, told Reuters that all snakes can swim, and most swim below the water, or partially submerged.

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When walking on Lake Baikal in winter, you might feel like you are walking on air. The translucent ice covering all 31,722 square kilometers is a popular and beautiful mode of transportation, from walking trails to ice highways.

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Lake Baikal is not only the largest, deepest, and oldest lake in the world, but houses around 2,000 unique known species of animal that are not found anywhere else on Earth.

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