Lake Bisina, also known as Lake Salisbury, is a freshwater lake in eastern

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

. It is a satellite lake of

Lake Kyoga Lake Kyoga (literally 'the place of bathing' in Runyoro language) is a large shallow lake in Uganda, about in area and at an elevation of 1,033 metres. The Victoria Nile flows through the lake on its way from Lake Victoria to Lake Albert. The mai ...

, which it drains into, and the two are to some extent directly connected by

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

swamps. During the high-water rainy season, Lake Bisina can be up to deep and it is often directly connected to the smaller

Lake Opeta Lake Opeta is a lake with an extensive wetland system in Uganda. The wetland lies south of the Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve and serves as a dry-season refuge for both wildlife from the park and domestic cattle of the surrounding Karamajong and Po ...

, but during the dry season the two are clearly separated.

Conservation and ecology

Lake Bisina is one of Uganda's 33

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 ...

s and since 2006 a

Ramsar Ramsar may refer to: * Places so named: ** Ramsar, Mazandaran, city in Iran ** Ramsar, Rajasthan, village in India * Eponyms of the Iranian city: ** Ramsar Convention concerning wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran ** Ramsar site, wetland listed in ...

-listed wetland of international importance. The lake is important for fish, notably several threatened

haplochromine __NOTOC__ The haplochromine cichlids are a tribe of cichlids in subfamily Pseudocrenilabrinae called Haplochromini. This group includes the type genus (''Haplochromis'') plus a number of closely related genera such as '' Aulonocara'', '' Astat ...

cichlids like ''

Haplochromis orthostoma ''Haplochromis orthostoma'' is a species of cichlid fish that is endemic to the Lake Kyoga system in Uganda, where only known from Lake Bisina Lake Bisina, also known as Lake Salisbury, is a freshwater lake in eastern Uganda. It is a satellite l ...

'', '' H. argenteus'' (appears to have disappeared from its main range in Lake Victoria), '' H. latifasciatus'', '' H. lividus'', '' H. martini'' (appears to have disappeared from its main range in Lake Victoria), '' H. maxillaris'', '' H. nubilus'', '' H. parvidens'', '' H. phytophagus'' and a number of

undescribed species In taxonomy, an undescribed taxon is a taxon (for example, a species) that has been discovered, but not yet formally described and named. The various Nomenclature Codes specify the requirements for a new taxon to be validly described and named. U ...

. Although

Nile perch The Nile perch (''Lates niloticus''), also known as the African snook, Goliath perch, African barramundi , Goliath barramundi, Giant lates or the Victoria perch, is a species of freshwater fish in family Latidae of order Perciformes. It is wid ...

was introduced to Lake Bisina in the early 1970s, recent surveys have not detected this species, which has been implicated in the extinctions of many haplochromine ciclids elsewhere. A few

tilapia Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically most ...

species have also been introduced to Lake Bisina and they are still present, along with the native

Singida Singida is a town in central Tanzania. The town is the location of the regional headquarters of Singida Region as well as the district headquarters of Singida Urban District. The region and district are named after the town. Transport Road l ...

and

Victoria tilapia ''Oreochromis variabilis'', the Victoria tilapia, is a species of African cichlid native to Lake Victoria and its tributaries, Lake Kyoga, Lake Kwania, and Lake Bisina (Salisbury), as well as being found in the Victoria Nile above Murchison Fal ...

s. Other, more widespread fish species found in Lake Bisina include

marbled lungfish The marbled lungfish (''Protopterus aethiopicus'') is a lungfish of the family Protopteridae. Also known as the leopard lungfish, it is found in Eastern and Central Africa, as well as the Nile region. At 133 billion base pairs, it has the large ...

, and various species of

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

, African tetras and elephantfish.

References

Bisina Ramsar sites in Uganda Important Bird Areas of Uganda {{Uganda-geo-stub

Conservation and ecology

See also

References