Hydrologically speaking, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are not two separate lakes, but rather a single massive body of water. Because they are joined by the five-mile-wide, 120-foot-deep Straits of Mackinac, they maintain the same surface elevation and flow freely back and forth. In limnology, this makes them one "hydrological lake" often referred to as Lake Michigan-Huron. While they are treated as two distinct entities for political, historical, and geographical mapping purposes, they function as one. If you consider them a single lake, it would technically be the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, surpassing Lake Superior. This distinction is vital for scientists studying water levels and invasive species movement, as a change in one "lake" immediately impacts the other. Despite the scientific reality, the 2026 world atlas and general public consensus continue to count them as two of the five "Great Lakes" of North America.