What lives at the bottom of the Great Lakes?

The organisms living on the bottom in shallow waters are the same kinds of snails, clams, worms, mayflies, and caddisflies found in most small lakes. The deep waters, however, are the realm of some organisms that are found only in the deep, cold lakes of the northern latitudes.



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Alligators are rarely found in the Great Lakes. Although some alligators thrive in freshwater, it's just too cold in the north for them to survive. They don't typically live farther north than North Carolina. It's unclear how the alligator arrived to Lake Michigan.

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The Great Lakes Biggest Predator Michigan's biggest predator in the Great Lakes is a Sea Lamprey. In the very famous words of Randy Jackson, it's going to be a no for me dawg.

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They Physically Can't. Sharks literally just can't get to the Great Lakes. While they can hang out in the Great Barrier Reef, there are a few barriers like an electrical one in Chicago, locks and dams in the Illinois River and even Niagra Falls, as Great Lakes Guide said.

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The most dangerous predator in the Great Lakes is the sea lamprey, which was actually introduced as an invasive species. Primarily, it goes after a sports fish called the lake trout, often wounding them as they kill them off. It is also attracted to the blood and bodily fluids of any creature.

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The health of the waters of the Great Lakes can be measured in many ways, but one of the most unusual is by observing the health of the small population of beluga whales that live in the estuary of the St. Lawrence River.

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These lakes are the perfect backdrop for swimming, boating, and other water-related activities. But there can be more danger in these Great Lakes waves than what you'd find in the ocean. The Great Lakes are more than capable of generating waves over 10 feet high, despite being smaller than our oceans.

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While this 193-pound lake sturgeon is still the largest fish ever caught in Michigan, some state they observed lake sturgeon as big as 300 pounds in the Great Lakes Basin.

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A ship that hasn't been seen for almost a century and a half has been confirmed as found. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Paradise, Michigan announced an expedition on Lake Superior last year that led to the discovery of the Satellite, a tugboat that sank June 21, 1879.

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The caves' beauty varies dramatically with the season. In summer the red sandstone is sandwiched between sapphire blue lake and emerald green forests that grow right up to the brink of the cliffs. Large waves generate plumes of spray and thunderous explosions as they surge into the sea caves.

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Lake Superior is the world's largest freshwater lake by area (31,700 mi2 /82,100 km2). It is also the coldest and deepest of the Great Lakes, with a maximum depth of 406 meters (1,332 feet). By most measures, it is the healthiest of all the Great Lakes.

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Drinking Water - State of the Great Lakes. The 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement states that “the Waters of the Great Lakes should be a source of safe, high quality drinking water”. Approximately 8.5 million Canadians and 19.5 million Americans get their drinking water from the surface waters of the Great Lakes.

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1988: Vicki Keith swims the Great Lakes Vicki Keith's swam Lake Michigan, and was the first person to swim all of the Great Lakes. Some consider her one of the most successful marathon swimmers in the history of the sport with 16 world records.

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“The waves hit you every three to five seconds in the Great Lakes, where in the ocean it might be 10 to 12 seconds between waves,” said Guy Meadows, a Michigan senior research scientist.

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