Lake Baikal Marine Life

Lake baikal is a surprising and unique natural laboratory where one can study the life in abyssal fresh waters.

Lake baikal marine life.

Lake baikal is home to more than 2 000 species of plants and animals two thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world including the baikal omul fish and baikal oil fish as well as the nerpa one of the world s only freshwater species of seal. 1 800 species of which 80 percent are endemic the omul salmon the oily golomyanka fish and the freshwater seals called nerpas. Lake baikal is in a rift valley created by the baikal rift zone where the earth s crust is slowly pulling apart. Throughout its history both baikal itself and the organisms inhabiting its world have undergone a complicated evolution.

Lake baikal features 27 islands including one 45 miles in length called olkhon while in and around baikal live more than 1 500 animal species about 80 percent of which live nowhere else on the. Amazingly an estimated 100 000 nerpa seals call lake baikal home. It is the oldest existing freshwater lake on earth 20 million 25 million years old as well as the deepest continental body of water having a maximum depth of 5 315 feet 1 620 metres. At 636 km 395 mi long and 79 km 49 mi wide lake baikal has the largest surface area of any freshwater lake in asia at 31 722 km 2 12 248 sq mi and is the deepest lake in the world at 1 642 m 5 387 ft.

Lake baikal russian ozero baykal also spelled ozero bajkal lake located in the southern part of eastern siberia within the republic of buryatia and irkutsk oblast province of russia. Buy amphipoda eulimnogammarus sp. Endemic species inhabits lake baikal. Endemic species inhabits lake baikal by shakir r on videohive.

The baikal shore is a unique ecological niche the inhabitants of which are connected with both dryland and water. Bears elk lynx and other wildlife abound in the surrounding forests and mountains. New varieties and species of organisms are continuously developing in the lake. The lake s thriving marine life is in part thanks to hydrothermal vents inside the lake which act as entryways for cold water to enter cracks in the earth s crust venturing toward the magma deep inside the surface.

The bottom of the lake is 1 186 5 m 3 893 ft below sea level but.