Baikal, along with its surroundings, is a very beautiful place, whose amazing landscapes and miracles can be told for a very long time. This is a region with very picturesque nature: fabulous landscapes, bizarre capes, magnificent cliffs, as well as other beauties that are found here at every step.
The fauna of Lake Baikal is extremely diverse, since the nature here has been preserved almost in its original form, and the indigenous population lives according to the traditional way. Thanks to this, this place attracts ecotourists from all over the world every year.
Fauna of Lake Baikal
A huge number of animals live here, some of which can be found only in this place. For example, seals - a cute animal that has long been a symbol of this lake. Or golomyanki fish - completely transparent! In Lake Baikal, the animal world is represented by a huge number of different fish, seals, etc. Squirrels, sables, deer, wild boars, foxes live on the shore, which are very common for tourists. Wolves, bears and lynxes stay away from tourist paths. Day and night birds sing here. And if we talk about fish, then sturgeon, grayling, whitefish and omul are typical inhabitants of local waters.
Baikal seal
Here, the only representative of mammals is the Baikal seal (or seal). And if we consider the problems of Lake Baikal, it can be noted just that this animal is on the verge of extinction.
There are several hypotheses about how seals ended up here. There is a version that she penetrated here from the Arctic Ocean during the ice age along rivers loaded with ice.
This amazing beast almost all his life is in the water, every 20 minutes floating up for a portion of fresh air. In winter, he breathes through special vents - small vents that he creates by raking the ice from below with the claws of his forepaws. Nerpa hibernates in the lairs, arranging them in the hummocky parts of the lake under the snow. Around the lair there are more than 10 different auxiliary products. They can stand tens of meters from the main one. It has been proven that the ability to make products is an innate instinct.
The main food of the seal is the Golomyanka-goby fish. She eats 3-5 kg of fresh fish per day. Adult seals eat up to a ton of fish per year.
At about 4 years old, the female becomes sexually mature. Males reach puberty 1-2 years later. In the seal, the pregnancy lasts 11 months. Until the age of forty, she is able to bear offspring.
In February and April puppies are born. They appear in a snow den, on ice, feed on mother's milk. Basically, the seal gives birth to the first, sometimes two babies, whose weight is up to 4 kilograms. The cubs have white fur, which allows them to remain almost invisible in the snow.
The average weight of the seal is 50 kg, the maximum - 150 kg. The speed of a floating animal is up to 20 kilometers per hour.
Great Golomyanka
In Baikal, 2 species of golomyanka live - small and large. These 2 species are found at significant depths. They hold at daytime to a depth of 500 m, rising at night to 50 m. Since Baikal’s water is very clear, you can see these beautiful pink fish iridescent with all shades of the rainbow about 20 centimeters in size. In a golomyanka, the body is translucent due to the huge fat content (about 45%).
She is a live-bearing fish. Moreover, in a large individual, the larvae are born in the fall, while in a small one, in June. In a large golomyanka, the number of larvae is about 4, 000, in a small one - 2, 500.
Fish live up to 5 years. They eat juvenile fish and crustaceans.
Baikal omul
Omul is the main commercial fish. Pure Baikal water allows four omul races to live in it: Chivyrkuisky, Selenga, Severobaikalsk, and Ambassadorial.
In the fall, during the spawning season, all races go to their own river. The spawning course into the rivers begins when the water temperature is equalized in August-September. In October, spawning occurs at a water temperature of not more than 5 ° C. The development of eggs lasts 8 months, and the slope of young larvae ends by the end of May. Young omul, having fallen on estuarine sites, in the lower reaches of rivers, in litter, bays, lingers here for 1.5 months, since in May-June these areas are characterized by the best warming of the water.
Juveniles in the warm shallow water area feed heavily on small chironomid larvae, plankton, etc. Larvae become fry, and as soon as the waters of the coastal areas of the lake warm up to 11 ° C or more, the omulny juveniles gradually disperse along Lake Baikal, the animal world of which is so rich and diverse.
Omul becomes an adult in the 5th year of his life.
The sizes of fish of different races are different. The largest is the Selengin race. In summer catches, the average body weight reaches 404 grams with a body length of 35 centimeters. The smallest size is distinguished by the North Baikal race, in which the average weight in summer catches reaches 255 grams.
The maximum weight of the fish is 5 kilograms.
Baikal sturgeon
The fauna of Baikal is very rich. Briefly speaking about it, it is necessary to tell about the Baikal sturgeon. He constantly lives here and is associated with rivers mainly during breeding, which occurs in V. Angara, Barguzin and Selenga. Although in the rivers he can live permanently, especially in the first 3 years. The juveniles later slide into the lake. Within its limits, sturgeon is distributed over a vast water area. He mastered the shallow water zone up to 200 m. During the spawning period, fish migrate along rivers almost 100 km from the mouth.
Baikal sturgeon grows relatively long. Males reach puberty at age 15, while females only at age 20.
Once upon a time, fish were caught, whose body weight reached 200 kilograms; Today, a representative weighing up to 90 kg is rarely found. In females, the average body weight is 22.5 kilograms with a length of 160 centimeters, in males about 13.5 kilograms with a length of about 130 centimeters. The average fecundity of fish is 420, 000 eggs.
The composition of fish food is diverse, which is caused by the wealth of Lake Baikal. The animal kingdom that attracts sturgeons is worms, mollusks, larvae of springflies, chironomids, amphipods, broad-bones, periodically juveniles of cyprinids and perch.
Black Baikal grayling
Endemic variety of Siberian grayling. Fish is distributed throughout Lake Baikal (Russia), especially near the mouth of the river where it breeds. Lives at shallow depths (up to 15 m) near the coast, where there are rocky soils.
In warm periods, it migrates to the largest tributaries of Lake Baikal. At this time, the males acquire a colorful, bright outfit. Black grayling spawns in May. After that, the fish rolls into the lake, and fry and grayling larvae linger there for a long time. By autumn, they also slide into Baikal and the beds of large rivers.
In black grayling, puberty occurs at the age of four.
Food: caddis flies, chironomids, gammarids, mayflies and insects.
The average size is 250 mm with a body weight of 300 grams. The maximum length of black grayling is 530 mm with a weight of 1.2 kg.
White Baikal grayling
The endemic species of Siberian grayling differs from black in lighter colors and some biological features.
It lives throughout the lake, while tending to spaces in the mouths of large tributaries, mainly the northeastern and eastern parts of the lake.
White appearance is more than black. Its maximum weight is about 2 kg and more with a body length of about 600 mm. The average size of the fish is 300 mm with a weight of 500 g.
In fish, maturity occurs by seven years. In this case, the average fecundity of the white species is 5 times more than black.
Spawning occurs in May, when the water temperature is 14 ° C. At this time, eggs are laid on sandy coastal shallows at a depth of about 50 cm. Rolling of fry and fish occurs in the same way as in black grayling.
The rich Baikal fauna serves as food: larvae of springflies, caddis flies, chironomids, mayflies, dragonflies.
Moose elk
Elk is the largest animal of the Baikal region. Its average weight is 400 kilograms, individual males weigh and 0.5 t. The body length reaches 3 meters with a height at the withers of about 2.3 m. At the same time, males differ from females in large sizes, as well as in the fact that they have shovel-like, changing each year horns. The most powerful horns appear in males for 15 years. In January, the horns fall; the growth of new ones begins in March.
The race happens at the end of September. In May, the Baikal fauna enriches - in females calves are born.
Moose are kept in groups of 4-6 individuals or individually.
In winter, they feed on bark and shoots of trees, in summer - a variety of herbs.
