New Zealand's largest lake, filling the caldera of a mighty volcano.
Surface area
616 km²
Maximum depth
about 186 m
Elevation
356 m
Continent
Oceania
Countries
New Zealand
Did you know?
Lake Taupō sits in the crater of a volcano whose eruption around 1,800 years ago was one of the most violent in recorded history.
Little-known fact
Its surface is roughly the size of Singapore, and it is one of the finest trout-fishing lakes in the world.
Highlights
- New Zealand's largest lake
- Fills a violent volcano
- A world-class trout fishery
Life in the Lake Taupō
The fish and animals, waterbirds and water plants — including some of the rarest — that this water supports.
Animals & fish
Atlantic salmon
The “king of fish” — it is born in a river, grows at sea, then fights its way back upstream to spawn where it hatched.
Waterbirds
Mallard
The familiar green-headed dabbling duck — ancestor of most domestic ducks — found on waters worldwide.
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