Animals and plants

      Baikal has more than 1,000 species of aquatic flora! Besides the algae, about 20 species of flowering plants have been found here.

     the lake is inhabited both by very ancient varieties of organisms that originated in small lake pre-dating Baikal and younger ones that originated in Baikal itself. There are more than 300 species of protozoans and about the same number of the most interesting amphipod crustaceans, various flat and round worms, lower crustaceans, insects, mollusks, fish, and the nerpa (seal).

    The most numerous inhabitant of the lake's water is a copepodae crustocean - the Baikal epischura. It is about the size of a manna-croup grain; a size of 1.5 millimetres is 'gigantic' for it. However, it is this crustacean of the Crustacea species that account for 96 per cent of the Baikal zooplankton. The epischura plays an exceptional part in Baikal's life circle. This crustacean is a main consumer of the plankton algae, and it subjects the lake's bacteria to thorough filtration.  

     Exceptionally rich and diversified is the phytoplankton - tiny algae that mostly inhabits the upper layer of water where it receives the most light. These are diatom peredinial golden algae. Many species of these algae grow intensively in early spring when the lake is still covered with a layer of ice. Among these are also the cold-loving diatom algae: the melizira, the cyctotella, the cinedra. Especially plentiful under patches of transparent ice is the gymnodium, a light-and cold-loving peredinial algae.

     There are 56 species of fish inhabiting Lake Baikal . The majority of them are bullheads - the shirokolobka ('wide forehead', as they are called locally). These developed in Baikal from an ancient form akin to the Anadyr and Michigan bullheads; they are represented in Baikal by 32 species, 29 of which are endemic. For the most part, the bullheads are typical inhabitants of the bottom, occupying all water depths.

     Possibly, the Baikal's most interesting fish is the golomyanka (oil fish), which is still mysterious in many aspects. The golomyankas - the big and the small species - live only in Baikal. Their size does not exceed 24 centimetres, they have no scales, and they are nacreous (mother-of-pearl) in colour and transparent. They contain up to 35 per cent of medicinal oil rich in vitamin A. The golomyanka is the most numerous fish in Baikal, its resources amounting to about 150 thousand tons. However, in neither of its life stages does it swim in schools, so it is not included in the food-fish list. Old residents say that a long time ago, after storms, golomyankas were gathered alongside the shores and the fat was melted and used in treatments for rheumatism, atherosclerosis and for healing wounds that would not scab over for long. The golomyanka is a viviparous fish, the only one in our latitudes. It gives birth to 3,000 living fry at a time. Most females perish after the child-hearing. Rarely, the golomyanka gives posterity twice, and even more rarely, three times. In the nature golomyankas live no more than 6 years.

     This small fish can endure most pressure in the depths of the Baikal water. At night it rises to the water surface, and at daytime it swims down to great depths. Limnologists have had a chance to observe the golomynka's behaviour in the water depths. At a depth of 1,000-1,400 metres and more, the golomyanka moves freely both horizontally and vertically, whereas at such a depth even a cannon cannot shoot because of the enormous pressure.

     It is noted that the golomyanka is very sensitive to the temperature of water. Its optimal temperature is up to +5°C, and it avoids higher temperatures. It cannot survive at +10°C or higher.

     The major food-fish in Baikal is the omul. When it comes to tenderness and gustatory qualities of meat, the omul knows no rivals. There are five populations of the omul: the selenginsky, the chivyrkuysky, the posolsky, the north-baikalsky, and the barguzinsky.

     The Baikal seal, or the nerpa as it is more often called, has always been of great interest. How does this animal come to inhabit Baikal, since its nearest relatives live in the northern arctic regions and southern Caspian Sea ? One theory holds that the seal came into Baikal from the Arctic Ocean through the Lena River in prehistoric times, when it was part of an integral system with the Baikal. This theory finds support in he fact that chromasomic analyses and other data favour of the arctic-sea seal as its closest relation. However, there are many differences between the nerpas and related seals. The Baikal seals are more graceful, especially the females. They also differ from others by the silver- grey colour of their skin, and the fact that they have 2 more litres of blood, which enables them to do without fresh air for almost 70 minutes.

The source is - "CD Encyclopedia of Baikal”