The only Great Lake wholly within the United States, with coastlines like beaches by the sea.
Surface area
58,000 km²
Maximum depth
about 281 m
Elevation
176 m
Continent
North America
Countries
United States
Did you know?
Lake Michigan has vast freshwater dunes and beaches, and even its own 'shipwreck coast' and legends of a 'Lake Michigan Triangle'.
Little-known fact
Technically Michigan and Huron are a single lake, joined at the Straits of Mackinac at the same water level.
Highlights
- The only all-US Great Lake
- Ringed by huge freshwater dunes
- Really one lake with Huron
Life in the Lake Michigan
The fish and animals, waterbirds and water plants — including some of the rarest — that this water supports.
Animals & fish
North American beaver
Nature’s engineer: its dams create wetlands that reshape whole river valleys.
Common snapping turtle
An armoured, prehistoric-looking turtle with a powerful beak that haunts the muddy beds of North American waters.
Waterbirds
Mallard
The familiar green-headed dabbling duck — ancestor of most domestic ducks — found on waters worldwide.
Water plants & reeds
Cattail (bulrush)
The brown sausage-headed reed of marshy shallows, edible from root to pollen.
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