The world’s oldest lake can be found in southeastern Siberia where it’s believed to have existed for around 25 million years. As well as being the great great grandad of lakes, Baikal is also the deepest at 1,700 meters (5,600 feet). The impressive accolade means it’s home to around 20 percent of the world’s unfrozen freshwater reserves, and in a pond that massive you can expect a fish or two.
Lake Baikal is known as the “Galapagos of Russia” for the many weird and diverse species that call it home. Despite being covered by a thick layer of ice for five months each year, the ecosystem that has developed in the lake is astonishing and like few others. It is estimated that 80 percent of plants and animals that live in it are found nowhere else on the planet.
Among them is the Baikal oilfish, also known as the golomyankas. They’re scale-less fish with translucent bodies that can stretch to around 21 centimeters (8.3 inches). There are two species in the Comephorus genus, C. baikalensis and C. dybowski.
