The deepest and oldest lake on Earth, a crescent of crystal water in southern Siberia.
Surface area
31,722 km²
Maximum depth
about 1,642 m
Elevation
456 m
Continent
Asia
Countries
Russia
Did you know?
Baikal holds about a fifth of all the unfrozen fresh water on the planet — more than all five North American Great Lakes combined.
Little-known fact
It is home to the nerpa, the world's only exclusively freshwater seal, whose ancestors somehow reached a lake far from any sea.
Highlights
- Deepest lake on Earth
- Holds a fifth of Earth's fresh water
- Home to the only freshwater seal
Life in the Lake Baikal
The fish and animals, waterbirds and water plants — including some of the rarest — that this water supports.
Animals & fish
Northern pike
A long, torpedo-shaped ambush predator that lurks among weeds across the cool rivers and lakes of the north.
Eurasian otter
A sleek, playful hunter whose return to a river is a sign the water has run clean again.
Waterbirds
Grey heron
A patient, statue-still angler that stalks the shallows of rivers and lakes across the Old World.
Interactive · 3D dive
How deep does a lake go?
A lake is layered from the sunlit, weed-filled shallows down to a cold, dark bed. Tap a zone to dive the submersible through the water column — and meet the life that belongs at each depth.
Tip: hover the column to tilt it · tap a layer to dive
Littoral Zone
The warm, bright band close to shore where sunlight reaches the bottom. Reeds, water lilies and rooted plants grow thickly here, making it the busiest, most crowded part of the whole lake.
Who lives here