What fish live in Lake Baikal? Message on the topic “fish of Baikal” Irina Dymbrylova Types of fish that are found in Baikal.

Baikal is one of the most magnificent and breathtaking lakes. The waters of this Russian landmark are home to a wide variety of fish species. This feature developed a long time ago, when a large number of vertebrates of different fauna complexes entered the lake. To date, it has been established that 54 species of fish live in the waters of Lake Baikal.

Groups of fish

Ichthyologists have divided all species of fish into three large groups:

• Siberian - includes vertebrates living in the bays, shores and litters of the lake. Another name for the group is sora. This complex includes representatives of carp, perch and pike. It should be noted that this also includes acclimatized species of fauna, namely: carp, catfish and bream.
• Siberian-Baikal - consists of the family of grayling, sturgeon and whitefish. Vertebrates live in coastal zones, as well as in the pelagic zone of open Lake Baikal.
• Baikal - this group includes about 50% of all fish species. Vertebrates focus on greater depths and water edges. This complex includes representatives of sculpins.

Baikal is considered an ideal place for fishing. Thanks to the huge number of different fish, every fisherman is satisfied with his catch.

Fishes of the Baikal region

There are fish that are most valuable and in demand among fishermen. These include:

Perch

Perch - the maximum height of vertebrates is 25 cm, all - 200 g. In the warm season, 30% of the fish of this species are concentrated in the lake; in winter, perch migrates to rivers.

Dace

Elets - this representative of the aquatic world is in the lake all year round and loves to swim off the shores of Lake Baikal.

crucian carp

Crucian carp – the lake is predominantly inhabited by gray crucian carp, the length of which can reach 30 cm, weight – 300 g.

Pike

Pike - a fish that can grow up to 50 cm and weigh about 10 kg or more. The predator does not swim far because it loves warm coastal water.

Roach

Roach - the length of the fish rarely exceeds 18 cm. Vertebrates love a muddy bottom with abundant vegetation, so they are often found in shallow water.

Shirokolobka

Gobies (broadheads) are considered bodies of water and are concentrated on the bottom of the lake.

Trophy fish

We also provide a list of the most “trophy” specimens of fish living in the waters of Lake Baikal:

Omul

Omul is a descendant of the Arctic omul. Reaches a weight of 2 kg. There are small-, medium- and multi-stamen omul.

Grayling

Grayling – the lake is inhabited by representatives of black and white grayling.

Taimen

Taimen is a fish belonging to the salmon family and listed in the Red Book. The toothy fish can grow up to 30 kg and have a length of about 1.4 meters.

Whitefish, a representative of vertebrates, lives in the lake all year round and comes in lake and lake-river forms.

Sturgeon

Sturgeon is a rare fish, a representative of cartilaginous fish, listed in the Red Book.

Davatchan

Davatchan - belongs to the salmon family, also listed in the Red Book.

Burbot

Burbot is a unique fish that has mucus containing a natural antibiotic.

Non-commercial fish

In Lake Baikal you can also find species of fish that are classified as non-commercial:

Golomyanka

Golomyanka is a unique species of vertebrate, distinguished by the birth of live fry. The lake is inhabited by small and large golomyanka. The maximum length of the fish is 30 cm.

Longwing - the weight of the fish is about 100 g, length - 20 cm. The representative of the aquatic world is endemic to the lake.

Yellowfly

The yellowfly is a miniature fish, the length of which reaches only 17 cm, weight - 16 g. An interesting representative of vertebrates, having yellow fins.

Residents of the aquatic world of Lake Baikal also include lenok, ide, bream, gudgeon, Amur catfish, Siberian spined loach, sleeper firebrand and various types of broadhead (long-winged, stone, sandy, white, small, Elokhinsky, rough, half-naked, armored, flat-headed, sharp-snouted and others).

Lenok

Gudgeon

Amur catfish

Rotan head

The fame of Baikal fish goes far beyond Siberia. And its taste is legendary. Smoked or dried omul is the best gift that a Siberian brings to his friends in other cities of Russia. Having tried Baikal fish dishes once, many guests plan a trip to Baikal again in order to again experience the delicate taste of fried grayling and smoked whitefish, the aroma of hot smoked omul, which can be eaten several “tails” at a time, and of course, the unusual taste dried golomyanka.

Currently, there are 52 species of fish living in Baikal. Of these, only 15 are considered commercial fish. The most famous among them are omul, grayling and whitefish. Baikal sturgeon and lenok, taimen and burbot are found in smaller quantities. Sorog, perch, and ide live in the lake. The most important commercial areas are the Maloye More, the shallow waters of the Selenga and Upper Angara rivers, the Barguzinsky and Chivyrkuisky bays, as well as Proval Bay and Posolsky Sor (a shallow area separated from Baikal by a sandy spit - like a small lake). The total biomass of fish in Baikal is about 230 thousand tons, including commercial fish - about 60 thousand tons. The annual increase in fish is about 190-200 thousand tons. The average annual fish catch reached 13 thousand tons or more. Currently it is 3-4 thousand tons.


You can read more about it in a separate article.

BAIKAL FISH

1. Omul

Five populations of omul live in Baikal: Selenga, Posolskaya, Severobaikalskaya, Chivyrkuiskaya, Barguzinskaya


Before you even reach Baikal, you will meet its most famous and delicious representative - the Baikal omul. He will be everywhere - in cities, towns, railway stations. All the way you will be accompanied by salted omul, dried omul, and, finally, when you get to Baikal itself, freshly caught omul. The most popular is cold smoked omul. It is considered a real delicacy not only in our country, but also abroad. Smoked omul has a very special taste. The meat of this fish is very fatty and tender. When properly prepared, it acquires an unusual flavor, for which it is valued. The indigenous people call it “omul with a scent.” Most people who have tried this perfection at least once say that they have never eaten anything tastier.

2. Whitefish

In the Chivyrkuisky Bay, in the Small Sea, in the Severobaikalsky litter, the Baikal lake whitefish is found - a delicate juicy fish weighing up to three or more kilograms.

Fish pie stuffed with whitefish are signature dishes on Lake Baikal. There are also lake and river whitefish pyzhyan in Baikal. Fishermen around the fire, where the fish soup is boiling, can tell you so much about the habits of lake fish - you’ll listen to them!

3. Grayling

In spring, the rivers are free of ice. Swift, clean, “talkative”, they are “waiting” for grayling to spawn.


Baikal is inhabited by a subspecies of Siberian grayling of two forms: black and white, which, in a bright (nuptial) plumage, will go to spawn in the fast tributaries of Baikal, with graceful jumps over waterfalls and creases up to a meter high. After 14-17 days, larvae form from the eggs and roll into Baikal.

4. Sturgeon

Truly royal fish is called the Baikal sturgeon, a large fish (up to 100 kg in weight) with delicate black caviar, in adult females it can be up to nine kilograms.


About three centuries ago, a well-known supporter (zealot, preacher) of the Old Believer faith, Archpriest Avvakum Petrov, in “The Life Written by Himself,” assured that “the fish in it [Baikal] are very thick, much fatty, you can’t fry in a frying pan - everything will be fat...”. However, there cannot be “very dense” sturgeons in Baikal, because sturgeon prefers shallow waters, and in Baikal there are seven percent of them from the bottom area, and the Baikal sturgeon, as a result of overfishing, is listed in the Red Book.

5. Garbage fish

Along the rivers and streams, well-known fish in Siberia “came” into the lake: pike, perch, dace, ide, crucian carp, sorog, burbot, etc., but deep Baikal, as they say, did not accept them, since here there are different depths, different temperature, other feed. This ichthyofauna is perfectly located in the shallow bays of Baikal - in the litter, and lenok and taimen “came” along the large tributaries of Baikal and are located in the pre-estuary parts of the rivers.

6. Golomyanka

It is the most numerous in Baikal. The total number and biomass are twice as large as all other fish living in the lake, and amount to about 150 thousand tons. The peculiarity of the golomyanka is that it does not spawn, but gives birth to live larvae, which is why it is called a viviparous fish.


There are two species of golomyankas living in Baikal - large and small. Both species are found at various depths all the way to the bottom. Golomyankas, along with zooplankton, also eat their smaller brothers - juveniles. Despite this, the annual growth of golomyanka is about 150 thousand tons, i.e., within a year it completely renews its population.

Industrial fishing cannot be organized for golomyanka. It leads a dispersed lifestyle and is the main food for omul and Baikal seals, since its body is half composed of fat. The largest specimens of females of the great golomyanka reach 25 cm, males - 15 cm. Females of the small golomyanka grow up to 15 cm, males - up to 12 cm. The large golomyanka usually gives birth to its offspring in September-October, and the small one - in the spring, after the lake is freed from ice . At the same time, golomyankas rise to the surface layers so that the offspring have the opportunity to feed here on epishura, cyclops and macrohectopus fry. Large specimens of the large golomyanka give birth to up to 2.0-2.5 thousand larvae, small golomyanka - up to 1.5 thousand pieces. According to some authors, golomyankas die when their offspring are born; according to others, not all individuals die. By the way, golomyankas mature in the 2-3rd year of life. There are seven-year-old females and four-year-old males.

DISHES FROM BAIKAL FISH

The local highlight is lightly salted Baikal omul, the fame of its delicate taste is known far beyond the borders of Siberia. There are different ways of salting it, gutted and not gutted, depending on the cooking recipe and the time that has passed since the day of salting, the taste of the fish changes greatly. Freshly salted omul is so tender that even those who usually avoid fish eat several tails of it at a time. Among gourmets it is valued as an ideal snack for chilled vodka.
Many tourists try to take Baikal omul as gifts for their family and friends. For transportation, it is recommended to buy cold-smoked omul and pack it in paper, not in plastic bags, so as not to suffocate.

Fried fish

It is best to fry fresh lenka or fatty gray and white grayling (but not black), or whitefish.
The tastiest fish is freshly caught by a fisherman, not asleep, when no more than two hours have passed since the catch. Large whitefish are cut along the spine and then cut into large pieces so that they can be fried. The oil must be free of foreign odors. It is better to fry in butter, fresh melted seal fat or livestock fat. For 1 kg of fish you need about 100 grams of butter. First, the fish is cleaned all around and freed from scales, spread out, and the gills and entrails are removed. Spread out fish is not washed in running water so that it does not lose its taste. Only newcomers to Baikal wash it - real fishermen never wash gutted fish. To form a golden crust, the pieces are rolled in flour, to which salt and black pepper are added. Gray flour or crushed crackers are preferable. Properly cooked fish has an even, crispy skin that does not burst. Fry it in a large frying pan so that it goes in with the head. Whole fried fish has different tastes in different parts of the body. When the fish is fried on one side, it is turned over to the other side, and coarsely chopped onions are added to the frying pan. A dish with cooked fish is decorated with herbs and lemon slices.

Fish soup according to A. Burmeister's recipes

Historical background: In the 19th century, the main snack of Irkutsk residents was omul with cedar oil and green onions. Selenga was especially valued. When the first omul and freshly salted caviar were brought to the city, half the city gathered on the shore. Everyone bought as much as they could. At the beginning of the 19th century, a barrel of omul cost 13 rubles.

For fish soup, it is better to take fatty fish - grayling or whitefish. The fish is not washed if it is fresh. This makes the most delicious soup. For real fish soup there must be a lot of fish - a full pan. The fish is dipped in cold salted water and boiled for 7-10 minutes. When cooked, take out and finish cooking the muhler (broth), adding a pinch of rice, finely chopped potatoes and onions. If the fish is not pulled out, it will fall apart. Delicious fish soup is made over a fire made from deciduous and pine wood. It has been noticed that burning coals, falling into the pot, add a piquant taste to the broth, which is why local fishermen call it “smoky fish soup.” An unforgettable experience of real fish soup can only be obtained on the shores of Baikal: at dusk by the light of a fire, to the sound of the surf and the drinking song “The Glorious Sea - Sacred Baikal.”

On the eastern shore of the lake, fish soup is cooked according to a different recipe. In the Chivyrkuisky Bay, where a variety of fish are caught in the net: perch, burbot, pike, white grayling and whitefish, “triple fish soup” is cooked. To prepare it you need a large container. All fish are gutted, but not washed. Trash and noble fish are sorted. The sor is ripped open, but the scales are not removed. The noble one is cleaned all around from scales and ripped open. Rice, finely chopped potatoes and trash fish (crucian carp, burbot, ide) are placed in cold water. When the fish is boiled, it is pounded and squeezed into the main broth, the remains are removed along with gauze. Secondly, the perch is placed in clean gauze, also not cleaned of scales. When it is cooked, it is also squeezed out and the remains are removed along with gauze. The resulting broth is made from two types of fish; various spices are added to it. Then add pieces of noble fish, cleaned of scales, and cook for 7 minutes until the eyes of the fish turn white. Then the fish is taken out of the broth, additionally salted and served on the table in a separate plate.

Omul caviar

The taste of caviar depends on how you flog the fish - in the block (split only the belly) or in the layer (split only the spine). It is unacceptable for blood and bile to enter the caviar. For beating (freeing eggs from the film), a special cross is made from the crown of a young green larch. Select crowns 30-50 cm long, which have at least four shoots in different directions of 1.5-2 cm each. Then the cross is freed from the bark, clamped between the palms and turned in a container with caviar, as when making fire, periodically removing the screwed on one with a knife. her film. This operation continues until the entire film breaks and the eggs separate from each other. With high-quality beating, there should not even be two eggs in the film. Then the caviar is washed in water - the more water, the purer the product. For 2 calves, take an enamel container of at least 10 liters. The purest selected eggs settle to the bottom, and all the particles of film, blood and immature eggs float to the surface. The entire upper cloudy solution is drained. This procedure is repeated many times until the water with caviar is pure. If you shake such water with a layer of eggs at the bottom and look, then the color of the solution should be uniform, without any impurities. The caviar washing is completed, and you can start salting. There are two ways: five-minute and slow.
For five-minute salting, take boiled water, pour in as much salt as will dissolve, i.e. a supersaturated solution is made. Coarse salt is used (GOST 00).
The caviar is poured into cheesecloth and dipped in a hot salt solution. After five minutes, the bag is hung out to drain the brine. Caviar is ready to eat.

For slow salting, pour a lot of salt into cold water. Gauze with caviar is immersed in a cold saline solution for 6 hours. Then they hang it up in the same way so that the solution drains, and the caviar is ready.

Gourmets recommend eating chilled caviar with hot white bread and butter or rolling chilled caviar into hot pancakes. The caviar that is sold is prepared industrially in a different way using preservatives and is intended for long-term storage, so its taste is an order of magnitude lower than that of properly prepared caviar at home.

Splitting

Healthy fish are selected. According to the recommendation of the sanitary and epidemiological station, it is necessary to freeze it for at least 14 days, but Baikal fishermen know how to choose healthy food and consume it immediately after lifting the nets, as soon as it hardens in the cold.


Frozen fish is beaten from all sides with a hard object. After this, the skin is easily removed, and the frozen pulp is torn and separated from the bones. Pieces of frozen fish are consumed raw, dipped in a mixture of salt and black pepper.

Omul “with flavor”

In Siberia, salted omul, flogged and unflogged, and culturally salted is most valued.
True lovers and experts believe that pounded salted omul with its aroma - a peculiar piquant smell, and meat with a very tender consistency - is preferable to all other types of preparation.


To an unaccustomed person, such omul seems somewhat rotten (however, this only seems so, this is the specificity of the smell of delicious fish. Not everyone likes, for example, Roquefort cheese, but lovers will not exchange it for any other.

Other recipes for fish dishes of Siberian and Buryat cuisine can be read in the article about.

You can choose a recreation center on the coast of Lake Baikal.

Lake Baikal- an amazing and unique natural laboratory where you can study life in abyssal fresh waters. New varieties and species of organisms are constantly developing in the lake. Throughout its history, both Baikal itself and the organisms inhabiting its world have undergone a complex evolution. Because of this, the lake is inhabited by both very ancient varieties of organisms that arose in a small lake that preceded Baikal, as well as younger ones that arose in Baikal itself. There are more than 300 species of protozoa and about the same number of the most interesting amphipod crustaceans, various flat and roundworms, crustaceans, insects, mollusks, fish and seals.

Plants of Baikal

Baikal has more than 1000 species of aquatic flora! In addition to algae, about 20 species of flowering plants have been found here. The lake's coves and mud lagoons, its sheltered bays and river deltas, support plants such as sparse, slender reeds, water buckwheat, reeds, antlers and sedges.

Baikal algae

Along the steep shores of Lake Baikal, the coastal areas of the deep-sea slope are devoid of flowering plants. However, algae live there. If you look closely at the rocks along the surf line in July, August and September, you will see a thick green moss-like plant on them - ulocrix. A little deeper, the rocks are covered with yellowish fibers of algae called didymosphenia, and even deeper (3-10 meters) you will see small bushes of Baikal draparnaldia, which once formed dark green thickets. At this depth other algae are visible.

Exceptionally rich and diverse are phytoplankton - tiny algae that mainly live in the upper layer of water, where they receive more light. These are diatoms, ancient golden algae. Many types of these algae grow intensively in early spring, when the lake is still covered with a layer of ice. Among them are also cold-loving diatoms: melisira, cyctotella, sinedra. Ice and cold-loving advanced algae are especially abundant under patches of transparent ice.

In the summer, when the water warms up, cold-loving algae produce too many warm-loving varieties - green, blue-green, golden and some other types of diatoms. The amount of algae on Lake Baikal varies depending on the season.

Biological role of bacteria on Lake Baikal

The biological role of bacteria on Lake Baikal is no less diverse. They decompose and mineralize dead plants and animals, thereby participating in water purification. The bacteria also provide food for some plankton, crustaceans and other organisms.

The smallest inhabitants of Lake Baikal

In summer, when the water surface is calm, vast thickets of bright, dark green freshwater sponges of various shapes can be seen through the water, each with a unique shape.

All Baikal sponges live on rocky soil in open open areas of the lake. Research conducted by the deep-sea submersible Pisces shows that they live at depths reaching 1000 meters. The Baikal sturgeon uses sponge as food.

Among the wide variety of worms that inhabit Lake Baikal, the unusual flat ciliary worms (turbilaria in Latin) are abundant. Such worms, as well as sponges living in the vicinity of the Frohlich hot springs, contain about 60 percent of ancient carbon. This Baikal turbilaria shows wide variations in color and size. They have bright patterns in various shades and can reach a size of about 30 centimeters in length and 4-5 centimeters in width when unfolded. All of these worms are endemic; they live exclusively in open areas of Lake Baikal.

Baikal worms feed along the bottom of the lake, where they search for prey, paralyze it, then envelop it in mucus and slowly draw it into the body. By feeding on sick and weakened organisms, flatworms function as medical attendants.

Under the rocks on the clay and, to a lesser extent, on the sandy areas of the lake bottom, from surface level to the deepest water, live worm-like worms - oligocetes. This group of worms includes at least 70 species, 90 percent of which are endemic and live in the open waters of Lake Baikal.

Among benthic inhabitants, Oligocetes occupy a leading position. A small part of oligichs are predatory; most of them are harmful. They usually serve as food for other more highly organized animals. Timid worms play a fairly significant role in the biological processes of the lake. I. Izosimov believes that oligichets are a relict of the tertiary fauna, which formed long ago and became endemic, while Baikal gave birth to a number of new species with their specific accommodative properties, allowing them to live in this great body of water.

In addition to the scarecrow species, the lake is home to a curious representative of the worm-like worms - policheta maasayunkia baikalica. It lives in small tubes built from particles of silt and sand held together by a certain substance. This typical representative of marine or fresh water bodies lives on coastal muddy soils, in spongy fields, on plant branches and in other places. It is still unclear how he got to Baikal, but there are several interesting assumptions on this matter.

Baikal shellfish

It is known that more than one hundred species of mollusks live on Baikal. They live on muddy or sandy soil, mostly at a depth of 15-20 meters. Mollusks are infrequent at depths of 20 to 30 meters, and only a few rare specimens of mollusks live at depths of 100-150 meters. They are small and have thin-walled shells due to cold water and lack of calcium salts. The mollusk provides good food for sturgeon, whitefish, grayling, goby and snake.

Almost all Baikal mollusks belong to the main families of Baikal; they are found in their fossil forms in lake deposits dating back a million years. Of particular interest is the endemic family of baicalids of various shapes and sizes of shells, intricately decorated with ribs, keels, handles and thin spiral meshes.

Insects of Baikal

At the beginning of summer, late May-June, caddis flies, insects hatched in streams, begin to fly out in full force. These insects, which are also known as “metlyak” in the south of Lake Baikal and “lipochan” in the north, fill the air near the shores and gather in dense masses on rocks, stones and trees and near the water. Their adult phase lasts several days. When adult insects lay eggs in water, they die. Their larvae turn into pupae, and in the spring they develop wings.

Because of the hatching of caddis flies, bears rush to the shore each spring, alone or in family groups, to feast on the insects. At the same time, graylings and omuls “stretch” along the shore - this type of food is extremely nutritious! Among other insects, chironomids are numerous, numbering about 60 species, but only one third of them live in open Baikal.

The main filter of Lake Baikal is episkhura

The most numerous inhabitant of the lake's waters is the crustacean Copepodae - Baikal Epischura. We are talking about the size of a grain of manna; the size of 1.5 millimeters is “giant” for him. However, it is this crustacean species that makes up 96% of Baikal zooplankton. Epischura plays an exceptional role in the life cycle of Lake Baikal. This crustacean is the main consumer of planktonic algae and subjects the lake's bacteria to thorough filtration. Without exaggeration, we can say that episkhur is the main filter of Lake Baikal. According to Academician G. Galazy, a famous scientist (Lake Baikal, 1979), “during the year, all crustaceans of this species filter from 500 to 1.

The development of crustaceans on Baikal is most unusual, especially amphipods, which number about 300 species in the lake (a third of all gammarids known in the world!). They mainly live at the bottom, where they can burrow into the ground, hide under stones, crawl along the bottom and rest comfortably on Baikal sponges, feeding at their expense. In shallow water they are distinguished by bright colors and good vision; at great depths they are colorless, blind and have long antennae, with the help of which they search for food on the ground.

Most amphipods are predators - carrion eaters. They eat invertebrates, dead fish and other organisms. Sometimes fishermen, if they do not have time to check their nets in time, pick up either “chopped” fish or skeletons devoid of all flesh. Amphipods are excellent medical nurses and also serve as food for fish.

Among amphipods, a special place belongs to the pelagic (living in the depths of water) crustacean - macrohectopus or Jurassic, as fishermen call it. Yur is one of the main food components for omul and also provides food for all types of fish. Macrogectopus is a typical inhabitant of open Baikal. During daylight hours, its bulk remains close to the most active upper layer of water 200-250 meters thick. At night, it moves through the surface layers, hunting for small planktonic organisms.

Fishes of Baikal

Baikal is home to 56 species of fish. Most of them are shirokokolobka gobies (“broad forehead”, as they are called locally). They developed on Baikal from an ancient form, akin to the Anadyr and Michigan bulls; in Baikal they are represented by 32 species, 29 of which are endemic. For the most part, gobies are typical bottom dwellers, occupying all water depths.

Baikal is also home to the most abyssal freshwater fish in the world. These fish managed to maintain vision even at the greatest depths, although they see only black and white images.

Two species of gobies, yellowfin and blackfin, live in the deep waters. These pelagic forms live in the upper layer 100 meters thick, feeding on epischura and jur. Roast pelagic oxen (young), especially those of the yellowfin oxen, the so-called poyed (joy food), constitute one of the food components for omul.

Perhaps the most interesting fish of Lake Baikal is the golomyanka (butterfish), which remains mysterious in many ways. Golomyankas - large and small - live only on Lake Baikal. Their size does not exceed 24 centimeters, they have no scales, they are nacreous (mother-of-pearl) in color and transparent. They contain up to 35 percent of medicinal oil, rich in vitamin A. Golomyanka is the most numerous fish on Lake Baikal, its resources amount to about 150 thousand tons. However, it does not swim in schools at any stage of its life, so it is not included in the list of food fish. Old residents say that a long time ago, after storms, golomyankas were collected along the shores, and the fat was melted and used to treat rheumatism, atherosclerosis and to heal wounds that would not hurt for a long time. Golomyanka is a viviparous fish, the only one in our latitudes. At the same time, 3000 live fry are born. Most women die after hearing a child. Rarely does a golomyanka give birth twice, and even less often - three times. In nature, golomyankas live no more than 6 years.

This small fish can withstand the greatest pressure in the depths of Baikal water. At night it rises to the surface of the water, and during the day it swims at great depths. Limnologists had the opportunity to observe the behavior of the holominka in deep water. At a depth of 1000–1400 meters or more, the golomyanka moves freely both horizontally and vertically, while at such a depth even a cannon cannot fire due to the enormous pressure.

It is noted that golomyanka is very sensitive to water temperature. Its optimum temperature is up to +5°C and this avoids higher temperatures. It cannot survive at +10°C or higher.

The main food fish on Lake Baikal is omul. When it comes to tenderness and taste of meat, omul has no competitors. There are five populations of omul: Selenginsky, Chivyrkuisky, Posolsky, North-Baikal and Barguzinsky.

In autumn, during the spawning period, each population moves to its own river. The instinct to continue generation forces the omul to overcome stormy rapids and river shallows. The eggs remain on a sandy and pebble bottom with moderate water flow, and the development of their larvae lasts 8 months. For various reasons, most of the eggs die: they are either buried under sand and silt, or eaten by predators. To help preserve the population, fish hatcheries were built on Lake Baikal, where valuable food fish are grown under artificial conditions.

80 percent of the larval eggs survive on the breeding plants, but when they are dumped on Baikal, they are exposed to numerous dangers. Only one in a hundred fry survives to return to the spawning site. By ichthyological standards, this is a normal percentage! Admiral Nelson once remarked that "three cods would be enough to feed London if their generation were preserved..."

It is known that all omuls belong to three ecological and morphological groups: benthosabyssal, pelagic and coastal. The resources of omul are determined by the intensity of fishing. It should be noted that large-scale fishing is gradually declining, while there is an increase in licensed recreational fishing. It is noteworthy that today in settlements on the shores of Lake Baikal, local residents can offer you salted and smoked omul, still hot, cooked before your eyes.

Even more delicious than omul is the Baikal whitefish, a juicy, fatty fish weighing up to 12 pounds or more. Black and white Baikal graylings offer excellent sport fishing. After the ice breaks up in the spring, the black Baikal grayling, an amazingly graceful fish with a tall dorsal fin and sparkling rainbow colors, rises into the rivers that flow into Baikal. It overcomes rapids and zaiomas (wooden piles stuck in the river) up to a meter high before spawning. Seventeen days later, the eggs give birth to larvae, which slide back to Lake Baikal. Black grayling lives both in the quiet waters of the lake and in fast mountain rivers.

Taimen and lenok live on Baikal, but a special place in the ichthyofauna of the lake is occupied by the Baikal sturgeon, which mainly lives in the areas of the main tributaries of Baikal: in the delta zone of the Selenga River, in Provalsky Bay, Chivyrkuisky and Barguzinsky Bay. Sturgeon migrate widely throughout the lake, especially along the shoreline where they swim into coves and bays. At one time, sturgeon caught weighed about 250 pounds. However, they grow slowly and mature late. Males enter spawning schools at the age of 15–28 years, females at the age of 21–37 years.

On Baikal there are perches, roaches, idae, crucian carp, cockroaches, eels and other types of fish that are widespread throughout Siberia. They inhabit lake tributaries, shallow bays and mudflats.

In the 1940s, Amur carp acclimatized to the lake, now the eastern bream itself lives here, and the Amur whale entered the lake through the Khilok-Selenga river system.

The Baikal seal, or nerpa, as it is more often called, has always aroused great interest. How does this animal live on Lake Baikal, since its closest relatives live in the northern Arctic regions and in the south of the Caspian Sea? According to one theory, the seal came to Baikal from the Arctic Ocean through the Lena River in prehistoric times, when it was part of a single system with Baikal. This theory is supported by the fact that chromosome analysis and other data confirm that the Arctic fur seal is its closest relative. However, there are many differences between seals and their sister seals. Baikal seals are more graceful, especially the females. They are also distinguished from others by their silver-gray skin color and the fact that they have 2 liters more blood.

According to the observations of workers at the Limnological Institute, the seal is capable of diving to a depth of almost 300 meters. During the dive, his metabolic processes stop, and due to myoglobin, he switches to intraviceral breathing, while the walls of the blood veins get rid of cholesterol. Its population, according to information received by researchers E. Petrov and M. Ivanov, is at least 100,000 animals. However, two centuries ago, Peter Simon Pallas sadly wrote that “through spears and swords, irreparable damage was done to Baikal, and seals are no longer visible in Southern Baikal...”

In winter, when the lake is covered with a thick layer of ice, the seal makes sharp claws through its respiratory tract (holes in the ice). Nearby, in a snowy den, a cow gives birth to one or, rarely, two seal cubs. At first they are yellow-green in color. After two weeks they become white, and later acquire a noble silver-gray hue.

The seal feeds on fish, which do not play a significant role in fisheries, but are important to the Baikal ecosystem (gobies make up 20 percent and golomyanka 80 percent of their diet). Every day he consumes at least 3 kilograms of fish (a ton per year!). No words can describe the feeling that remains after meeting a live seal somewhere in a quiet bay or near the Ushkany Islands. The trusting, open look of the seal's large, intelligent eyes will charm everyone. For several hours, the animals can bask in the sun while playing with their relatives.

Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater body of water in the world by volume. In its depths, more than 23,000 km³ of clean water is stored for future generations, which is 4/5 of the Russian reserves of the most important liquid on the planet and 1/5 of the global total. Its dimensions are amazing: the length from southwest to northeast is more than 700 km, the width is 25-80 km. Baikal is a unique holiday destination. There are many legends and songs about the reservoir. Hundreds of thousands of travelers from Russia and dozens of other countries around the world want to come to him.

Where is Lake Baikal located?

It is located in the center of Asia, in the southern part of Eastern Siberia. The border between the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia runs along the water surface of the lake. The coordinates are as follows: 53°13′00″ N. w. 107°45′00″ E. The distance from the southern shore of the reservoir to the border with Mongolia is 114 km, to the boundary with China – 693 km. The city located nearby is Irkutsk (69 km from the reservoir).

Flora and fauna

The nature of Baikal pleasantly surprises travelers. The water reservoir is home to more than 2,600 species of animals and birds. More than 50% of them can be found only on this lake. On the banks of the reservoir there are:

• the Bears;
• hares;
• wolves;
• wolverines;
• foxes;
• stoats;
• tarbagans;
• red deer;
• proteins;
• moose;
• wild boars

Of the sea animals, only seals or seals, as the Buryats call them, adorn the natural necklace. The reservoir abounds in fish. Swimming in the depths of the lake:

• omuli (salmon fish);
• grayling;
• roach;
• sturgeon;
• burbot;
• taimen;
• lenki;
• perches;
• sorogs;
• ide and pike;
• Golomyanka

The last representatives of the fauna are unique in that they have special swimming feathers stretching the entire length of their body. The tissues of their loin consist of one third of fat. Almost all of the fish described above can be caught from Baikal if you have special equipment (rods, nets, etc.) and desire.

The fauna of the lake itself and its coast is also unique. Pines, spruces, cedars, firs, birches, larches, balsam poplars and alders grow near the reservoir. Common shrubs include bird cherry, currant and Siberian wild rosemary, which every spring delights people with its beautiful pink-purple color and intoxicating aroma.

At any depth in the lake you can find freshwater sponges - animals that consist only of individual tissues and cellular layers.

Lake Baikal has a large volume not due to its huge area. According to this indicator, the natural reservoir ranks only 7th in the world. The preservation of water is ensured by the enormous depths of the lake basin. Baikal is the deepest lake on planet Earth. In one place the bottom is 1642 meters away from the water surface. The average depth is 730 meters. To completely fill the reservoir, it would be necessary to force all the rivers of the world to release their flow within 200 days.

According to official data, more than 300 rivers flow into Lake Baikal. But most of them are very small. The width of the flowing rivers does not exceed 50 meters. There are only 3 large streams that carry their waters to the lake. Only one river flows out of the lake - the Angara.

There are 36 islands scattered across the water surface. The area of ​​the largest piece of land, Olkhon, is 730 km². On its banks there are 2 fishing villages: Yalga and Khuzhir.

The Circum-Baikal Railway runs along the southern coast - a complex engineering structure, during the construction of which several dozen tunnels, viaducts and bridges were erected.

The main problem of the lake is the difficulty of protecting flora and fauna from poachers. Due to the large territory of the reservoir and adjacent lands, the presence of many small bays and bays on the coast, it is very difficult to track down lawbreakers even with modern technical means of searching for watercraft and people.

Holidays in 2019 on Lake Baikal

Several dozen resort towns and villages are scattered along the shores. The largest of them are:

• Listyanka- a village located at the source of the Angara. It houses the only museum dedicated to the lake. Also in the village and its surroundings, tourists will enjoy the St. Nicholas Church, built in the 19th century, and the Taltsy architectural and ethnographic complex, where you can learn birch bark weaving and clay modeling.
  
• - a small town on the southwest coast. It is famous in Russia due to the presence of a station built of marble - the starting point of the Circum-Baikal Railway and a mineralogical museum.
  
• Goryachinsk– the oldest resort of the lake. It was founded at the end of the 18th century by order of Catherine II. Its springs are perfect for healing, and its picturesque sandy bay is perfect for taking great photographs. Pictures of this resort can be found in guidebooks published in the 19th century.
  
• Big Cats- a village located several kilometers from Listvyanka. It boasts the aquarium of the Institute of Biology and old vertical mines where gold was mined more than 100 years ago.
  
• - a unique place, the only corner of the Mediterranean climate in Siberia. It is perfect for summer holidays for “savages” in tents, with fires and guitars.
  

Buses or commuter trains run regularly to these health resorts. Other points can only be reached by car or minibuses. The distance of the resort from major transport hubs also dictates the price level. Thus, the highest cost of accommodation in guest houses and recreation centers is observed in Slyudyanka, the lowest in settlements on the northeastern coast of the lake.

What to do on and near the pond?

Drink mineral water. Some of the resorts of Lake Baikal (Goryachinsk, Khakusy, Dzelinda) are balneological. People with diseases of the musculoskeletal system, nervous, genitourinary, and cardiovascular systems can take healing baths and drink mineral water in these places.

Take excursions. The routes of several hundred excursions have been laid along the shores of Lake Baikal. Conventionally, all walks conducted by guides from the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia can be divided into:

• ethnographic;
• local history;
• historical;
• natural history.

Most of the excursions are conducted by residents of the shore of the reservoir. They are happy to show travelers places where they can take great photos.

Go hiking. Hiking trails of all difficulty levels are offered along hiking trails through forests and mountains located near Lake Baikal. They last from 2 to 30 days. Such tests provide an opportunity to see with your own eyes all the beauty of nature, get a lot of pleasant impressions and acquire some skills necessary for survival (learn to make fires, cook food in the open air, cross rivers).

Have a nice time on cruises. Several thousand cruises take place on the surface of the lake every year. Some of them have the goal of showing tourists the most beautiful places in the reservoir and attractions that are located on the shores of Lake Baikal, and some are entirely dedicated to fishing. The routes of cruises of the first type are designed so that travelers can explore the waters and bays, and visit the most famous museums located near the reservoir. The price of the second type of tour includes the rental of fishing equipment and the services of experienced huntsmen who know where to find the most valuable and delicious Baikal fish.

Swim and sunbathe. The beaches of Baikal are places that are great for swimming and getting an even tan. Most of the cozy corners of the coast are covered with fine-grained sand. In the summer, when the water near the beaches warms up to +17-19 °C, everyone has the opportunity to swim and feel the purity and power of this great lake with their own bodies.

Learn extreme sports. Baikal is one of the favorite places of Russian extreme sports enthusiasts. In summer, amateurs train on the water surface of the lake:

• surfing;
• windsurfing;
• kiting;
• diving;
• snorkeling.

Every year in March, competitions are held on the ice of the reservoir in:

• karting;
• motocross;
• quadcross;
• speedway;
• enduro.

At this time, parachuting competitions are taking place in the skies above Lake Baikal.

Fishes of Baikal

About 54 species and subspecies of fish belonging to 15 families and 5 orders live and breed in Baikal. All fish of Baikal belong to three groups (complexes): Siberian, Siberian-Baikal and Baikal. The Siberian complex consists of all-Siberian species that live in the coastal areas, bays and other parts of Lake Baikal. They are also called sor fish. These are mainly carp, perch, and pike. This group also includes acclimatized species - carp, catfish and bream.

The Siberian-Baikal complex is represented by grayling, whitefish and sturgeon, which live in the coastal zone of the lake to depths of 300 m and go into the water column of Baikal in the first half of autumn.

The Baikal complex predominates in the lake - it accounts for 56% of the total number of species and 80% of the total fish biomass. The complex is represented by 29 species of sculpin, of which 27 are endemic.

The total weight of all Baikal fish is 230 thousand tons of fish. Every year 3.0-3.2 thousand tons of fish are caught on Baikal, of which 65-73% is Baikal omul.

The Red Book of Buryatia includes fish - Baikal sturgeon, davatchan, taimen, white Baikal grayling, tench. In addition to them, Baikal is inhabited by omul, whitefish, black Baikal grayling, sorog, ide, crucian carp, pike, perch, burbot and others. Catfish, Amur carp and bream were artificially bred.

The most fishing areas on Lake Baikal are the Selenginsky shallow waters, Posolsky, Istoksky and Severobaikalsky 1miro, Barguzinsky, Chivyrkuisky, Maloye More bays, as well as coastal waters with a depth of no more than fifty meters.

Recently, there is a danger of overfishing due to violations of fishing rules and poaching. The natural reproduction of fish is being disrupted due to the fact that the most important spawning rivers: the Upper Angara, Kichera, Barguzin, Selenga with its tributaries, the rivers of Chivyrkuisky Bay and Posolsky Sor are polluted due to the discharge of wastewater into them, deforestation along their banks, and rafting on them. forests, etc. For the same reasons, the fatness and fertility of fish decreases. Therefore, a lot of work is being done on artificial fish breeding on Lake Baikal and in other reservoirs.

There are three fish hatcheries in Buryatia - Bolsherechensky, Barguzinsky and Selenginsky. These factories annually release up to one and a half billion omul larvae, more than 150 million peled, 5-7 million whitefish, and up to 10 thousand juvenile sturgeon into lakes and rivers.

But it should be noted that artificially bred fish develop slowly, so a combination of natural and artificial fish reproduction is necessary.

In this case, the stock size increases, and the fish become more resilient.

The protection of fish stocks, regulation of industrial and recreational fishing, and control of fishing are carried out by the Baikalrybvod management and its inspections.

Golomyanka - a unique fish of Lake Baikal

Golomyanka is a unique fish that is found only on Lake Baikal. Golomyanka is the most numerous fish in Lake Baikal. Their total weight is 150 thousand tons. Golomyankas are very beautiful fish. They are pale pink in color. The eyes have a bright orange rim. The body of the golomyanka is translucent, without scales; through the tail, as if through glasses, you can read a book written in large black letters. The golomyanka has a large mouth. There are two types of golomyanka in Baikal: large golomyanka and small golomyanka. The large golomyanka lives at great depths, and the small one at a depth of 250-500 m. Large golomyankas reach up to 25 cm in size, and small ones up to 15 cm. Unlike all other fish living in Baikal, golomyankas give birth to live larvae. Large golomyanka usually spawn in the fall in September-October, small golomyanka - in the spring, after Lake Baikal is freed from ice. Large golomyanka give birth to up to 2-2.5 thousand pieces of larvae, and small golomyanka - up to 1.5 thousand pieces. Golomyankas live up to 4-7 years.

Great golomyanka, female

Great golomyanka, male

The features of these species include an inactive lifestyle, viviparity, cannibalism (eating their own young), predation and a significantly smaller number of males compared to females, especially in the great golomyanka.

Lesser golomyanka, female

Lesser golomyanka, male

Golomyanka floating in the water column

These species feed passively. Fish "hover" with the help of pectoral fins in the water with an open mouth and can instantly grab food. The main components of the food of the small golomyanka are epishura and macrohectopus, secondary or occasional are cyclops, benthic amphipods and juvenile golomyankas. The large golomyanka feeds on macrohectopus, epishura, secondary objects are juveniles of the large and small golomyanka.

The importance of golomyankas for Baikal and the entire population of the lake is immeasurably great. The entire deep-sea layer of the lake is inhabited by golomyankas. They make up ¾ of the biomass and 4/5 of the production of all fish. Their total biomass is 160 thousand tons, i.e. more than the biomass of all other fish combined. Golomyanka have no commercial significance, since they do not form large aggregations. However, golomyankas are an important link in the food chain. They are food sources for omul and seals; their young are fed by pelagic gobies, yellowfin and longwing. .