The Kushum or Koshim ( kk, Көшім; russian: Кушум) is a river in the

West Kazakhstan Region West Kazakhstan Region ( kk, Батыс Қазақстан облысы, translit=Batys Qazaqstan oblysy; russian: Западно-Казахстанская область, translit=Zapadno-Kazakhstanskaya oblast) is a region of Kazakhstan. The re ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. It is long. The Kushum is a

distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributar ...

of the

Ural Ural may refer to: *Ural (region), in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ural Mountains, in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ural (river), in Russia and Kazakhstan *Ual (tool), a mortar tool used by the Bodo people of India *Ural Federal District, in Russia *Ural econo ...

river. It flows across the

Bayterek russian: Байтерек , former_names = , alternate_names = Bayterek , image = Central Downtown Astana 2.jpg , image_size = 256px , alt = , caption = Baiterek Tower , ma ...

, Akzhaik and

Zhanakala Zhanakala ( kz, Жаңақала, ''Jañaqala''; russian: Жангала) is a town in north-western Kazakhstan. It is the seat of Zhanakala District in West Kazakhstan Region. Population: Geography The town is located close to where the Kushum ...

districts. Its water is used for agricultural irrigation and the riverbanks as grazing ground for local cattle. The last stretch of the river, including the lakes adjoining it, is a

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

Course

The Kushum begins branching off the right side of the Ural river northeast of the village of Krugloozyornoye. It heads roughly southwards forming

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank ...

s and

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are call ...

s. Its mouth is in lake Birkazan, near

village, over west of the Ural river channel.

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

''Kazakhstan National encyclopedia'', volume VIII / Chief editor A. Nysanbayev -

Almaty Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to ...

"Kazakh encyclopedia" General editor, 1998 ISBN 9965-9746-4-0 The right bank of the Kushum is bound by steep cliffs, while the left bank is mostly flat. The river is fed by snow, rain and groundwater. The Dongulyuk, Kirov, Pyatimar and Bitik reservoirs, as well as a network of irrigation canals were built along the Kushum river in the last half of the 20th century. Since the dams and canals were built the natural flow was disturbed and the water of the river does not reach lake Zhaltyrkol anymore.

Fauna

The main fish species in the Kushum include

zander The zander (''Sander lucioperca''), sander or pikeperch, is a species of ray-finned fish from the family Percidae, which includes the perches, ruffes and darters. It is found in freshwater and brackish habitats in western Eurasia. It is a popul ...

common bream The common bream, freshwater bream, bream, bronze bream, carp bream or sweaty bream (''Abramis brama''), is a European species of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae. It is now considered to be the only species in the genus ''Abramis''. ...

white-eye bream White-eye bream (''Ballerus sapa'') is a fish species of the family Cyprinidae. It is widespread in many large rivers in Europe and Asia in drainages of the Black Sea, Caspian Sea, and Aral Sea. It was introduced to several rivers in northern R ...

chub Chub is a common fish name. It pertains to any one of a number of ray-finned fish in several families and genera. In the UK, the term ''chub'' usually refers to the species ''Squalius cephalus''. In addition, see sea chub. In family Cyprinidae ...

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 ...

, silver bream,

ruffe The Eurasian ruffe (''Gymnocephalus cernua''), also known as ruffe or pope, is a freshwater fish found in temperate regions of Europe and northern Asia. It has been introduced into the Great Lakes of North America, reportedly with unfortuna ...

common rudd The common rudd (''Scardinius erythrophthalmus'') is a bentho-pelagic freshwater fish, widely spread in Europe and middle Asia, around the basins of the North, Baltic, Black, Caspian and Aral seas. Identification Morphologically, this species ...

, blue bream and sabrefish.Величие и упадок. Рыболовство на Кушуме
/ref>

References

External links

*
The current state of cross-border rivers of Kazakhstan and problems of their joint usingRestrictions and prohibitions to use wildlife objects and fishery resources at water reservoirs of the Republic of Kazakhstan
{{Rivers of Kazakhstan Rivers of Kazakhstan West Kazakhstan Region Distributaries Ural basin Caspian Depression Important Bird Areas of Kazakhstan

Course

Fauna

See also

References

External links