Bosten Lake (, Uyghur: / / ''Baghrash Köli / Baƣrax Kɵli'', Chagatai: ''Bostang'') is a freshwater lake on the northeastern rim of the

Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Xinjiang, Northwestern China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, Ch ...

, about east of Yanqi and northeast of Korla,

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

, China in the

Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in the southeastern Xinjiang, China. It borders Gansu to the east, Qinghai to the southeast and the Tibet Autonomous Region to the south. It is the largest prefecture-level di ...

. Covering an area of about (together with adjacent small lakes), it is the largest lake in

and one of the largest inland freshwater lakes in China.Seespiegelschwankungen des Bosten-Sees
/ref> Bosten lake receives water inflow from a catchment area of . The lake's Mongol, Uyghur and Chinese names are sometimes rendered as ''Bosten Hu'', ''Bagrax-hu'', ''Bagrasch-köl'', ''Baghrasch köl'', ''Bagratsch-kul'', ''Bositeng Lake'' or ''Bositeng Hu.'' The Kaidu River is the most important tributary to Lake Bosten, accounting for about 83% of its water inflow, other significant tributaries are the Huangshui Ditch (), the Qingshui River (), and Wulasite River ().
/ref> An active fishery exists on the lake. Until the early 1970s, two cyprinid species, '' Schizothorax biddulphi'' and '' Aspiorhynchus laticeps'', the latter of which is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to Bosten Lake and the Yarkand River, were responsible for 80 percent of the annual catch.K. F. Walker and H.Z. Yang, Fish and Fisheries in Western China, in Fish and Fisheries at Higher Altitudes: Asia (FAO Fisheries Technical Paper), December 1999
/ref> During the years 1962 to 1965, various carp species ( bighead,

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

, and crucian carp) were introduced into the lake. In the 1970s, these species become major targets of the fishing activities. Since 1978, the introduced

European perch The European perch (''Perca fluviatilis''), also known as the common perch, redfin perch, big-scaled redfin, English perch, Euro perch, Eurasian perch, Eurasian river perch, Hatch, poor man's rockfish or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the ...

has been the dominating species in the catches from Bosten Lake.

References

External links

Google Earth view
Bosten Lakes of Xinjiang Sites along the Silk Road {{Xinjiang-geo-stub