Paradeniz (literally "semi sea") is a

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') ...

along the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

shore in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. It is part of a lagoon system composed of four lakes.

Geography

Paradeniz is in

Silifke Silifke ( grc-gre, Σελεύκεια, ''Seleukeia'', la, Seleucia ad Calycadnum) is a town and district in south-central Mersin Province, Turkey, west of the city of Mersin, on the west end of Çukurova. Silifke is near the Mediterranean co ...

district of

Mersin Province Mersin Province ( tr, ), formerly İçel Province ( tr, ), is a province in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana. The provincial capital and the biggest city in the province is Mersin, which is composed of f ...

, Turkey. It is a formed within the delta of

Göksu River The Göksu ( Turkish for "sky water" also called ''Geuk Su'', ''Goksu Nehri''; la, Saleph, grc, Καλύκαδνος, translit=Calycadnus) is a river on the Taşeli plateau (Turkey). Both its sources arise in the Taurus Mountains—the norther ...

at . It is at the west of the river, south west of the town Arkum, north of the cape İncekum and east of the town Taşucu.

Location

East shore line of Paradeniz lies more or less parallel to Mediterranean Sea shore. The average distance to sea is less than . At the north east end there is a narrow channel to sea. The salinity is ‰ 19, which is less than that of Mediterranean Sea. The surface area of the lagoon is about and the average dept is

Ecology

Paradeniz together with the surrounding area is an important breeding and wintering area for the waterbirds. The number of bird species which were determined around Paradeniz is as high as 302 Ecology page
Paradeniz is also a fishery. By controlling the narrow channel to sea, fishes are trapped and harvested. The best known Paradeniz produce is blue crab (

Callinectes sapidus ''Callinectes sapidus'' (from the Ancient Greek ,"beautiful" + , "swimmer", and Latin , "savory"), the blue crab, Atlantic blue crab, or regionally as the Chesapeake blue crab, is a species of crab native to the waters of the western Atlantic ...

References

{{Mersin Province Landforms of Mersin Province Lakes of Turkey Silifke District