Lake Baikal is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia, between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Republic of Buryatia to the southeast. With 23,615.39 km3 (5,670 cu mi) of water, Lake Baikal is the world's largest freshwater lake by volume, containing 22–23% of the world's fresh surface water, more than all of the North American Great Lakes combined. It is also the world's deepest lake, with a maximum depth of 1,642 metres, and the world's oldest lake, at 25–30 million years. At 31,722 km2 (12,248 sq mi)—slightly larger than Belgium—Lake Baikal is the world's seventh-largest lake by surface area. It is among the world's clearest lakes.
The Baikal seal, Lake Baikal seal or nerpa, is a species of earless seal endemic to Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia. Like the Caspian seal, it is related to the Arctic ringed seal. The Baikal seal is one of the smallest true seals and the only exclusively freshwater pinniped species. A subpopulation of inland harbour seals living in the Hudson Bay region of Quebec, Canada, as well as the Saimaa ringed seal and the Ladoga seal, are also found in fresh water, but these seals are part of species that also have marine populations.
Lake Tanganyika is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. The lake is shared among four countries—Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Burundi, and Zambia, with Tanzania (46%) and DRC (40%) possessing the majority of the lake. It drains into the Congo River system and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Abyssocottinae are a subfamily of ray-finned fishes in the family Cottidae, the sculpins. They are known commonly as the deep-water sculpins. The entire family is endemic to Lake Baikal in Siberia.
Thymallus is a genus of freshwater fish in the salmon family Salmonidae; it is the only genus of subfamily Thymallinae. The type species is Thymallus thymallus, the grayling. The species in the genus are generically called graylings, but without qualification this also refers specifically to T. thymallus.
Okadaic acid, C44H68O13, is a toxin produced by several species of dinoflagellates, and is known to accumulate in both marine sponges and shellfish. One of the primary causes of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning, okadaic acid is a potent inhibitor of specific protein phosphatases and is known to have a variety of negative effects on cells. A polyketide, polyether derivative of a C38 fatty acid, okadaic acid and other members of its family have shined light upon many biological processes both with respect to dinoflagellete polyketide synthesis as well as the role of protein phosphatases in cell growth.
Comephorus, known as the golomyankas or Baikal oilfish, are a genus comprising two species of peculiar, sculpin fishes endemic to Lake Baikal in Russia. Comephorus is the only genus in the subfamily Comephorinae. Golomyankas are pelagic fishes which make the main food source of the Baikal seal.
Epischurella baikalensis is a species of copepod in family Temoridae. It is endemic to Lake Baikal, being the dominant zooplankton species there: 80%–90% of total biomass. It measures 1.5–2 mm (0.06–0.08 in).
Coregonus baicalensis is a species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. It is endemic to the Russian Federation's Lake Baikal where it is found on the bottom demersal. The maximum length recorded for this species is 60 centimetres (24 in). The average length is a few centimetres above 50 centimetres (20 in). It is also known as the Baikal whitefish. It is frequently considered to be a subspecies of Coregonus lavaretus.
Suberites is a genus of sea sponges in the family Suberitidae. Sponges, known scientifically as Porifera, are the oldest metazoans and are used to elucidate the basics of multicellular evolution. These living fossils are ideal for studying the principal features of metazoans, such as extracellular matrix interactions, signal-receptor systems, nervous or sensory systems, and primitive immune systems. Thus, sponges are useful tools with which to study early animal evolution. They appeared approximately 580 million years ago, in the Ediacaran.
Malawispongiidae is a family of freshwater sponges found in the ancient lakes of Malawi, Tanganyika, Kinneret, Ohrid and Poso. As presently defined, the family is polyphyletic.
Batrachocottus is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. These fishes are endemic to the Lake Baikal watershed in Russia.
Megalovalvata baicalensis is a species of freshwater snail with an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Valvatidae, the valve snails.
Lubomirskiidae is a family of freshwater sponges from Lake Baikal in Russia.
The bighead sculpin is a species of sculpin fish that is endemic to the Lake Baikal watershed in Siberia, Russia. It typically lives on rocky bottoms, often in places with sponges, at depths of 5 to 70 m (16–230 ft), but can occur as deep as 120 m (390 ft). Its colour varies from grayish to brownish or greenish depending on the bottom type. It can reach up to 22 cm (8.7 in) in length, but most are 13–16 cm (5.1–6.3 in). It feeds on a wide range of smaller animals such as young fish, insect larvae, amphipods, molluscs and oligochaetes. Breeding is in the spring where the female lays 618 to 1622 eggs, which are guarded by the male.
Brandtia is a monotypic genus of amphipod in the Acanthogammaridae family, containing the species Brandtia latissima. Like other members of the family, it is endemic to Lake Baikal. This omnivore is found at depths of 1–65 m (3–213 ft) among stones. It is up to 1.9 cm (0.75 in) long.
Comephorus baikalensis, the big Baikal oilfish, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. This fish is endemic to Lake Baikal in Russia.
Otomesostoma auditivum is a free-living, hermaphroditic flatworm in the order Proseriata, found in brackish and freshwater environments. It is a palearctic species living in shallow-water coastal habitats, and occurring in some freshwater lakes far from the sea.
Thymallus baicalensis, also known as the Baikal black grayling, is a Siberian freshwater fish species in the salmon family Salmonidae.
Silicateins are enzymes which catalyse the formation of biosilica from monomeric silicon compounds extracted from the natural environment. Environmental silicates are absorbed by specific biota, including diatoms, radiolaria, silicoflagellates, and siliceous sponges; silicateins have so far only been found in sponges. Silicateins are homologous to the cysteine protease cathepsin.
