Lake Ohrid
Lake Ohrid (
Macedonian:
Охридско Езеро, Ohridsko Ezero Albanian:
Liqeni i Ohrit) straddles the mountainous border between the southwestern region of the
Republic of Macedonia and eastern
Albania, covering an area of
340 sq km (130 sq mi). The deepest (
286 m/938 ft) lake of the
Balkans, it is drained to the north by the
Drin River. It is famous for its crystal clear water which is sometimes transparent to a depth of as much as 22 meters (66 feet). Underground springs feed the lake, which is also connected by underground channels to nearby
Lake Prespa, about 10 km (6 miles) to the southeast.
Lake Ohrid and the Prespa Lakes belong to a group of Dasseretes basins that originated from a
geotectonic depression two to three million years ago on the western side of the
Dinaric Alps. Worldwide, there are only a few lakes with similarly remote origin. Most other lakes were formed as a result of the
glaciation of the
Pleistocene epoch. They are the Europe's oldest lakes. Because the lake is so deep that it never freezes and still contains prehistoric fish.
There are three cities on the lake's shores:
Ohrid and
Struga on the Macedonian side;
Pogradec in Albania. There are also several fishing villages, although tourism is now a more significant part of their income.
Lake Ohrid is teeming with letnica
trout, lake-
whitefish,
roach and
gudgeon, as well as for species of
snails of a genus older than thirty million years; similar species can only be found in
Lake Baikal (which is also one of the few lakes that can rival the clarity of Ohrid's water). Like other similarly remote lakes, Ohrid is home to a number of relict species, or "living fossils", and many of the lake's endemic species are found only there. For example, ten of the seventeen identified fish species are unique to Ohrid, as are many of the lake's snails, worms, and sponges.
The lakeshore reed beds and wetlands provide critical habitat for hundreds of thousands of wintering water birds, including rare and threatened species such as the
Dalmatian Pelican,
Ferruginous Duck,
swan,
Spotted Eagle, and
Eastern Imperial Eagle.
One of the most fascinating species in the lake is the
European eel, which comes to Lake Ohrid from the distant
Sargasso Sea, thousands of kilometers away, and lurks in the depths of the lake for ten years. When sexually mature, the eel is driven by unexplained instincts to set off in the autumn back to its point of birth. There it spawns and dies, leaving its offspring to seek out Lake Ohrid, to begin the cycle anew.
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Ohrid Municipality*
Macedonian Tourism portal*
Ohrid Information portal*
LakeNet Profile
