Lake of Banyoles (or Estany de Banyoles) is a natural

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 ...

located in the ''comarca'' "

Pla de l'Estany Pla de l'Estany () is a comarca (county) in Catalonia, Spain. Its name means "plain of the lake", the lake in question being the Lake of Banyoles. Banyoles is also the name of the capital of the comarca and home to over half of its people. Pla ...

", Province of Girona, in northeastern

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. It is named after the nearby town of

Banyoles Banyoles () is a city of 20,168 inhabitants (2021) located in the province of Girona in northeastern Catalonia, Spain. The town is the capital of the Catalan ''comarca'' " Pla de l'Estany". Although an established industrial centre many of th ...

, to which it belongs entirely. On the western shore it borders with the town of Porqueres. The lake is approximately 2,100 m by 750 m with an average depth of 15 m that in several points gets down to 46.4 metres. It is located in a natural

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 ...

depression. Presently Lake Banyoles is the largest natural lake in Catalonia. Lake Sils, located 33 km further south, was formerly the largest lake in the area until it was drained in 1851.

Flora and fauna

There are both native and introduced fish species in the lake, like carp, ''gardí'', ''bavosa de riu'', sunfish,

tench The tench or doctor fish (''Tinca tinca'') is a fresh- and brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including the British Isles east into Asia as far as the Ob and Yenisei Rivers. It is also ...

black bass Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

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 ...

. It is known that other fishes like

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

bullhead catfish ''Ameiurus'' is a genus of catfishes in the family Ictaluridae. It contains the three common types of bullhead catfish found in waters of the United States, the black bullhead (''Ameiurus melas''), the brown bullhead (''Ameiurus nebulosus''), a ...

(''peix gat'') and

goldfish The goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the wild have bec ...

were introduced in the 19th century, but no specimens of those species have been found in recent surveys in the lake.

Sports in the lake

This lake became famous as the

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

location for the Barcelona Olympics 19921992 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 2. pp. 288-92. and the

World Rowing Championships The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic years is the highlight of th ...

in 2004. It is also a popular training location for many foreign rowers, particularly English rowers. It was also the site for the 1991 Junior World Rowing Championships.

References

External links

Data sheet of lake
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lake Of Banyoles

Venues of the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic rowing venues

Pla de l'Estany Ramsar sites in Spain Endorheic lakes of Europe

Flora and fauna

Sports in the lake

See also

References

External links