Lake Baikal is the deepest rift lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Republic of Buryatia to the southeast.
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-largest freshwater lake by volume and the second deepest, in both 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, Burundi, and Zambia—with Tanzania (46%) and the 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 subfamily is endemic to Lake Baikal in Siberia.
Thymallus, commonly known as graylings, is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fish and the only genus within the subfamily Thymallinae of the family Salmonidae. Although all Thymallus species can be generically called graylings, without specific qualification the term "grayling" typically refers to the type species Thymallus thymallus, the European grayling.
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 and the main food source for 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.
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.
Kessler's sculpin is a species of Baikal sculpin, a freshwater fish native to Russia and Mongolia where it occurs in Lake Baikal and surrounding lakes as well as the Selenga, Angara and Bain Gol rivers. It is the only member of its genus. In Lake Baikal it occurs on sandy, rocky-sandy or sandy-muddy bottoms, ranging from relatively shallow water to depths of 70 m (230 ft). In rivers they mainly occur in slow-flowing channels and floodplains.
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.
