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.