Bosten Lake (, Uyghur: / / ''Baghrash Köli / Baƣrax Kɵli'', Chagatai: ''Bostang'') is a freshwater lake on the northeastern rim of the

Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydr ...

, about east of Yanqi and northeast of

Korla Korla,The official spelling according to also known as Kurla, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency or from Mandarin Chinese as Ku'erle or Kuerle, is the second largest city in Xinjiang. It is a county-level city and the seat of ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

, China in the Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture. Covering an area of about (together with adjacent small lakes), it is the largest lake in

and one of the largest inland freshwater lakes in China.Seespiegelschwankungen des Bosten-Sees
/ref> Bosten lake receives water inflow from a catchment area of . The lake's Uyghur and Chinese names are sometimes rendered as ''Bosten Hu'', ''Bagrax-hu'', ''Bagrasch-köl'', ''Baghrasch köl'', ''Bagratsch-kul'', ''Bositeng Lake'' or ''Bositeng Hu.'' The

Kaidu River The Kaidu River (; Uyghur: قايدۇ دەرياسى ;), also known under its ancient name Chaidu-gol, is a river in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China and an important source of water for the region. The Kaidu River is responsible f ...

is the most important tributary to Lake Bosten, accounting for about 83% of its water inflow, other significant tributaries are the Huangshui Ditch (), the Qingshui River (), and Wulasite River ().
/ref> An active fishery exists on the lake. Until the early 1970s, two cyprinid species, '' Schizothorax biddulphi'' and '' Aspiorhynchus laticeps'', the latter of which is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to Bosten Lake and the

Yarkand River The Yarkand River (or Yarkent River, Yeh-erh-ch'iang Ho) is a river in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of western China. It originates in the Siachen Muztagh in a part of the Karakoram range and flows into the Tarim River or Neinejoung R ...

, were responsible for 80 percent of the annual catch.K. F. Walker and H.Z. Yang, Fish and Fisheries in Western China, in Fish and Fisheries at Higher Altitudes: Asia (FAO Fisheries Technical Paper), December 1999
/ref> During the years 1962 to 1965, various carp species ( bighead,

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns a ...

, common, and

crucian carp The crucian carp (''Carassius carassius'') is a medium-sized member of the common carp family Cyprinidae. It occurs widely in northern European regions. Its name derives from the Low German ''karusse'' or ''karutze'', possibly from Medieval L ...

) were introduced into the lake. In the 1970s, these species become major targets of the fishing activities. Since 1978, the introduced

European perch The European perch (''Perca fluviatilis''), also known as the common perch, redfin perch, big-scaled redfin, English perch, Euro perch, Eurasian perch, Eurasian river perch, Hatch, poor man’s rockfish or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply th ...

has been the dominating species in the catches from Bosten Lake.

References

External links

Google Earth view
Bosten Lakes of Xinjiang Sites along the Silk Road {{Xinjiang-geo-stub