Siberian “Freshwater Australia”

Timoshkin Oleg

Lake Baikal ranks first in the diversity of flora and fauna among the ancient lakes of our planet. It is a true “Biological Records Book”: today more than 2.5 thousand species and subspecies of animals are known, but scientists still open and describe tens of new taxons every year!

Baikal animals are not only numerous, but also unique: more than half of them are endemic, i.e., are not met elsewhere in the world. Among underwater wonders are unique “forests” of arborescent sponges with large turbellarian flatworms and bright tiger-skin Oligochaeta moving among them; blunt-headed shellfish Ommatogammarus feasting on the corpses of Baikal omul got into fishing nets; amphipods Macrohectopus and translucent gluttonous Golomyanka soaring in the water depth… You can acquaint with the sights of this underwater world that is difficult of access, without scuba diving: you can read the story about the surprising natural phenomenon, prosaically called the “Baikal faunistic complex”, and the history of its formation illustrated by unique photos.

More information on these and other subjects you can find in the printed version of our journal.