Biwa Ko
ID
643
Author(s)
J. Hales
Countries
Japan
Major Habitat Type
Large lakes
Drainages flowing into
Inland Sea
Main rivers to other water bodies
Lake Biwa is drained by the Seta or Yodo River into Osaka Bay, which is part of the Inland Sea.
Description
Boundaries
Biwa Ko (Lake Biwa) is the largest freshwater lake in Japan on the island of Honshū.
Description of endemic fishes
Fishes endemic to Lake Biwa include Silurus biwaensis, Chaenogobius isaza, Oncorhynchus rhodurus, and Gnathopogon caerulescens.
Justification for delineation
East Asian ecoregions were delineated through a top-down process using major basins as a starting point and incorporating traditionally recognized zoogeographic patterns where appropriate (Abell et al. 2008).
References
- Abell, Robin,M.L. Thieme,C. Revenga,M. Bryer,M. Kottelat,N. Bogutskaya,B. Coad,N. Mandrak,S.C. Balderas,W. Bussing,M.L.J. Stiassny,P. Skelton,G.R. Allen,P. Unmack,A. Naseka,R. Ng,N. Sindorf,J. Robertson,E. Armijo,J.V. Higgins,T.J. Heibel,E. Wikramanayake, (2008). "Freshwater Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Biogeographic Units for Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation" BioScience 58 (5) pp. 403-414.