Baltieji Lakajai (meaning White Lakajai) is a major lake of eastern

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, located about 12 miles east of Moletai, in Labanoras Regional Park of

Utena County Utena County ( lt, Utenos Apskritis) is one of ten counties in Lithuania. It is the country's most sparsely populated county. The capital and the largest city in the county is Utena, which is from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. On 1 July 201 ...

. It is part of the Neris River basin, an elongated lake in a west–east direction. The lake is of glacial original, as are all of the approximately 9,000 natural lakes which cover 1.5% of the land area of Lithuania. The Baltieji Lakajai is part of Labanoras Regional Park that was established in 1992.

Description

Its total area is 6.998 km², its length is 8.6 km and its maximum width is 1.3 km. The lake has three islands which cover an area of 3.8 hectares. Along the waterhole is a 40–50 m deep ravine. The coastline of the lake has a total length of 24.5 km, and has many coves, bays and peninsulas. It is a relatively shallow lake with a maximum depth of 45 metres, narrow, and almost no beaches. Pine forests line the shores in most parts. The smaller Tramys lakes are just to the northeast, to the west is Lake Siesartis, and to the south (from west to east) is Lake Urkis, Lake Kertuojai and Juodieji Lakajai. The lake can be accessed by foot via Highway 114 from the north and Highway 173 from the southwest and is quite popular with vacationers.

Fish Fauna

The vendace ''(

Coregonus albula ''Coregonus albula'', known as the vendace or as the European cisco, is a species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. It is found in lakes in northern Europe, especially Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Russia and Estonia, and in ...

)'' and the

smelt Smelt may refer to: * Smelting, chemical process * The common name of various fish: ** Smelt (fish), a family of small fish, Osmeridae ** Australian smelt in the family Retropinnidae and species ''Retropinna semoni'' ** Big-scale sand smelt ''At ...

''(

Osmerus eperlanus ''Osmerus'' is a genus of smelt. Species There are currently three recognized species in this genus: * ''Osmerus eperlanus'' (Linnaeus, 1758) (European smelt) * ''Osmerus mordax'' (Mitchill, 1814) ** ''Osmerus mordax dentex'' Steindachner & K ...

)'' are the two species (Vendace is an individual of Coregoninae and smelt of

Osmeridae Smelts are a family of small fish, the Osmeridae, found in the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans, as well as rivers, streams and lakes in Europe, North America and Northeast Asia. They are also known as freshwater smelts or typical smelts ...

) of cold water fish, which belong to Salmoniformes that are found in abundance in the Baltieji Lakajai, apart from in 74 other large and deep water lakes in Lithuania.

Recreation

Villages around the lake include Rudesa, Kamužė, Grūsis, Ažuraisčiai, Antalakaja, Apkartai, Ščiurys, Palakajys, and Mateliai. The lake has population of

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Percif ...

roach Roach may refer to: Animals * Cockroach, various insect species of the order Blattodea * Common roach (''Rutilus rutilus''), a fresh and brackish water fish of the family Cyprinidae ** ''Rutilus'' or roaches, a genus of fishes * California roach ...

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

and bream and there are also

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

s and

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...

. A permit for angling on the lake is required from the Lithuanian Environmental Protection Agency. The lake is also popular with divers. Water tourism and recreational infrastructure have been created in the lake area.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Video of a diver swimming in the lake
Lakes of Lithuania Molėtai District Municipality