Lake Baikal
A lake of superlatives
Lake Baikal lies in Russia. Especially for Russians it is a popular holiday region, but also for all rail travellers travelling on the BAM or Trans-Siberian line, the largest freshwater reservoir in the world is a must stop.
It is one of the most famous lakes on our planet, and one can only speak about it in superlatives: the deepest lake (1 637 m), the oldest (about 25 000 000 years), the lake with the most colourful flora and fauna among the freshwater lakes. In terms of quality and quantity, it is a unique freshwater reservoir (23.6 thousand cubic kilometres - more than 20% of the world's supply). The Baikal Depression is the core part of the Baikal Rift Zone, which is considered one of the oldest geological formations of this kind. The lake is a fragile ecosystem that produces fresh water.
The lake basin with the surrounding mountain ranges is one of the most important natural boundaries in Siberia: the distribution areas of many animal and plant species meet here. Therefore, many unique forms of life can be found here. One of the richest and most unusual freshwater fauna developed in the Baikal basin, which has been isolated for a very long time.
Of the more than 2 630 species and subspecies of animals and plants found in the lake, more than 80% do not occur anywhere else. Who would never have heard of Baikalomul or Baikal sturgeon? Big and small Golomyanka (oil fish, two peculiar species of viviparous fishes, belonging to the families native only to Lake Baikal) are known to all ichthyologists in the world. At the top of the Baikal ecosystem there is a typical marine animal - a seal, also called "Baikal seal".
