Puruvesi is a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in Eastern

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. The lake is located in

Kerimäki Kerimäki is a former municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with the town of Savonlinna on January 1, 2013. It is located in the provinces of Finland, province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Southern Savoni ...

, Kesälahti and

Punkaharju Punkaharju is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with the town of Savonlinna on January 1, 2013. It was located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Southern Savonia region In geography, regions, otherwise ...

municipalities. Part of the

Saimaa Saimaa ( , ; ) is a lake located in the Finnish Lakeland area in southeastern Finland. With a surface area of approximately , it is the largest lake in Finland, and the fourth-largest natural freshwater lake in Europe. The name Saimaa likely co ...

lake system, it borders on the sub-lake system of Pihlajavesi to the south. As is the case of other lakes of Saimaa, it has numerous islands and consists of numerous open lake areas, of which largest are Hummonselkä, Pajuselkä, Sammalselkä, Mustanselkä, and Ruosteselkä.Etelä-Savon ympäristökeskus: Puruvesi
Retrieved 2014-03-08. The lake is known for its pure

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

and has uniquely good

underwater An underwater environment is a environment of, and immersed in, liquid water in a natural or artificial feature (called a Water, body of water), such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, reservoir, river, canal, or aquifer. Some characteristics of the ...

visibility for a Finnish lake, easily extending to from the surface on calm and sunny days. Recently, the

Saimaa Ringed Seal The Saimaa ringed seal (''Pusa hispida saimensis'', Finnish: ''saimaannorppa'') is a subspecies and glacial relict of ringed seal (''Pusa hispida''). They are among the most endangered seals in the world, having a total population of only abou ...

, a rare

freshwater seal Freshwater seals are pinnipeds which live in freshwater bodies. The group is paraphyletic in nature, the uniting factor being the environment in which these pinnipeds live. The vast majority of all modern seals live solely in saltwater habitats ...

species, has returned to Puruvesi. Sightings of this animal have occurred frequently in 2006, 2007 and 2008. At least one seal was also sighted in the winter of 2009 as having wintered and given birth in the eastern part of Puruvesi.HS: Saimaannorppa

References

External links

* Saimaa Lakes of Kitee Nature of Savonlinna {{EasternFinland-geo-stub