Lake Skadar ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Скадарско језеро, Skadarsko jezero, ; sq, Liqeni i Shkodrës, ) also called Lake Scutari, Lake Shkodër and Lake Shkodra lies on the border of

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

and

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

, and is the largest

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

Southern Europe Southern Europe is the southern region of Europe. It is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is essentially marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of Southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Alba ...

. It is named after the city of Shkodër in northern Albania ( sq, Shkodër or ''Shkodra)''. It is a karst lake. The Montenegrin section of the lake and surrounding land has been designated as a national park, while the Albanian section is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

and a ramsar site.

Geography

Lake Skadar is the largest lake in the Balkan Peninsula with a surface area that seasonally fluctuates between and . Lake Skadar itself is located on the western Balkan The lake is located in the border area between Albania and Montenegro, the Montenegrin share of the area of the lake is slightly larger than the Albanian. The lake's water level also varies seasonally from above sea level. The lake extends northwest to southeast, and it is approximately long. The Bojana River connects the lake with the Adriatic Sea, and the

Drin River The Drin (; sq, Drin or ; mk, Дрим, Drim ) is a river in Southern and Southeastern Europe with two distributaries one discharging into the Adriatic Sea and the other one into the Buna River. Its catchment area extends across Albania, ...

provides a link with the

Ohrid Lake Lake Ohrid ( mk, Охридско Езеро , al, Liqeni i Ohrit , also referred as ''Liqeni i Pogradecit'';) is a lake which straddles the mountainous border between the southwestern part of North Macedonia and eastern Albania. It is one of E ...

. The lake is a

cryptodepression A cryptodepression is a depression in the Earth's surface that is below mean sea level, and which is filled by a lake. The term is derived from the Ancient Greek word ('hidden') and depression. Description A cryptodepression is often due to ...

, filled by the river

Morača The Morača ( sr-cyrl, Морача, ) is a major river in Montenegro that originates in the northern region in Kolašin Municipality under Mount Rzača. It meanders southwards for before emptying into Lake Skadar. Its drainage basin covers ...

and drained into the Adriatic by the long Bojana ( sq, Buna), which forms the

international border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

on the lower half of its length. The largest inflow is from the Morača, which provides about 62% of the lake's water. Total drainage area is . There are additionally some fresh water sources at the lake bottom. A characteristic feature of Lake Skadar's water balance is the high inflow from a number of temporary and permanent

karstic spring A karst spring or karstic spring is a spring (outflow of groundwater) that is part of a karst hydrological system. Description Because of their often conical or inverted bowl shape, karst springs are also known in German-speaking lands as a ''T ...

s, some of which are sublacustrine in cryptodepressians (so-called ‘oko’). The Southern and southwestern sides of the lake are rocky, barren and steep, having bays in which the sublacustrine springs, are usually to be found. On the northern side there is an enormous inundated area, the boundaries of which change as water levels fluctuate. Some small islands like Beška, with two churches on it and

Grmožur Grmožur ( cnr, Грможур) is a fortified islet in Lake Skadar, located near the village of Godinje, in the Montenegrin municipality of Bar. The island was nicknamed the Island of Snakes by the local population, and the Island of Birds by o ...

, a former fortress and prison can be found on the southwestern side of the lake. The climate type is

hot-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

with dry summers (''Csa''), under

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

. The Montenegrin part of the lake and its surrounding area were declared a national park in 1983. The Albanian part has been designated as a Managed Nature Reserve. In 1996, by

Ramsar Convention on Wetlands The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It i ...

, it was included in the

Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance This is the list of Wetlands of International Importance as defined by the Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural, scientifi ...

. Near the mouth of

Rijeka Crnojevića Rijeka Crnojevića (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Ријека Црнојевића, lit. "River of Crnojević") is a town in Montenegro on the eponymous Rijeka Crnojevića river, near the coast of Skadar lake. History The Ottomans captured Žablja ...

, below the surface of the water there is a well-preserved wreck of the steamboat ''

Skanderbeg , reign = 28 November 1443 – 17 January 1468 , predecessor = Gjon Kastrioti , successor = Gjon Kastrioti II , spouse = Donika Arianiti , issue = Gjon Kastrioti II , royal house = Kastrioti , father ...

'' sunk by partisans in 1942, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. File:Lake_Shkodër.jpg, View of the lake, Albania File:Westlicher Teil des Skutarisee.JPG, Western part of the lake near

, Montenegro File:02 - Maja Stosic - Pavlova Strana.jpg, Horseshoe bend in the northwest corner File:Shkodra 2.jpg, Outflow at Shkodër in Albania File:Grmozur 2.jpg, Fortress Grmožur in Lake Skadar, Montenegro File:Skadar Lake, Montenegro 37.jpg, Lake Skadar, Montenegro

Geology

Lake Skadar is presumably an

ancient lake An ancient lake is a lake that has consistently carried water for more than one million years. Many have existed for more than 2.6 million years, the full Quaternary period. Ancient lakes continue to persist due to plate tectonics in an active ...

, although it is a relatively young ancient lake. Most authors agree that the Lake Skadar basin is of

tectonic Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. These include the processes of mountain building, the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents ...

origin which had been formed due to the complex

folding Fold, folding or foldable may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Fold'' (album), the debut release by Australian rock band Epicure * Fold (poker), in the game of poker, to discard one's hand and forfeit interest in the current pot *Abov ...

and

faulting In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

within north eastern wing of Old Montenegro anticlynorium (High Karst Zone). These movements took place during the Cenozoic period. The Lake basin has been formed as the result of sinking of blocks in the Neogene period or even in Paleogene. In the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

and the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Zeta Plain The Zeta Plain ( cnr, Зетска равница, Zetska ravnica, ) is a fertile lowland in Montenegro. It stretches from Podgorica in the north to the Skadar Lake in the south. It is the biggest plains area in Montenegro, with an average elevati ...

, which was sunk at the beginning of the upper Miocene, and that the sea inundated this plain up to

Podgorica Podgorica (Cyrillic: Подгорица, ; lit. 'under the hill') is the capital and largest city of Montenegro. The city was formerly known as Titograd (Cyrillic: Титоград, ) between 1946 and 1992—in the period that Montenegro form ...

during the Pliocene. Radoman (1985) pointed out that sea must have destroyed all the freshwater populations on this plane and in the Lake Skadar area. The connection of Lake Skadar with the sea was interrupted during the younger Pliocene. The question of the origin of its water is of particular interest for biologists as these waters may have provided its first species and been the basis for its present high degree of endemism.

Fauna

The Lake Skadar system is a well-known hotspot of freshwater biodiversity and harbors a highly diverse mollusc fauna. Lake Skadar is one of the largest bird

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

s in Europe, having 270 bird species, among which are some of the last pelicans in Europe, and thus popular with

birder Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

s. The lake also contains habitats of

seagulls Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, ...

and herons. It is abundant in fish, especially in carp,

bleak Bleak may refer to: Fish * Species of the genus '' Alburnus'' * '' Alburnoides bipunctatus'', also known as the schneider Music * "Bleak", a song by Opeth from '' Blackwater Park'' * "Bleak", a song by Soulfly from '' Dark Ages'' Other uses * B ...

and

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

. Of the 34 native fish species, 7 are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to Lake Skadar.Talevski, Milošević, Marić, Petrović, Talevska and Talevska (2009)
''Biodiversity of Ichthyofauna from Lake Prespa, Lake Ohrid and Lake Skadar''.
Biotechnology & Biotechnological Equipment, 23(2). ISSN 1310-2818 At the scale of Lake Skadar, about 31% of freshwater snails (12 out of 39 species sampled in the lake) are endemic. At the scale of the Lake Skadar basin, 38% (19 species) of the total freshwater gastropod fauna appear to be endemic. There were reliably recorded 50 species of freshwater snails from the Lake Skadar basin. The index of freshwater gastropod endemism is 0.478. With this relatively high value, Lake Skadar exceeds such famous lakes as

Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is the fifth largest fr ...

and

Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; es, Lago Titicaca ; qu, Titiqaqa Qucha) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. By volume of water and by surface area, i ...

. The Lake Skadar is inhabited by five species of '' Bithynia'' and it is a hot spot of ''Bithynia'' evolution. There are 17 amphipod species for the Lake Skadar watershed, 10 of them being endemic (mainly from the subterranean habitat). The small range of many endemic species living in the Lake Skadar system together with ever increasing human pressure make its fauna particularly vulnerable. This becomes even more important in light of ongoing

eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...

water pollution Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. ...

and sand and gravel exploration activities in the lake and its basin. Research of the phytoplankton community and chlorophyllbased trophic state indices show that the lake is on a betamesosaprobic level of saprobity, which means moderately polluted with organic compounds. Effects of human-induced environmental changes are especially evident for sublacustrine springs, with eutrophication and using for

water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...

ing (e.g., sublacustrine spring Karuč) being the most serious threats. The 2011 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species includes 21 endemic species from the Lake Skadar basin.

Cultural impact

Radio Skadar, a radio station in

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

, based in

is named after Lake Skadar.

References

{{authority control Important Bird Areas of Albania National parks of Montenegro Skadar Skadar Protected areas established in 1983 Albania–Montenegro border Skadar Ramsar sites in Albania Ramsar sites in Montenegro Cetinje Municipality Podgorica Municipality LSkadar Karst lakes

Geography

Geology

Fauna

Cultural impact

See also

References