Lake of Banyoles is a natural lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

 located in the comarca

Comarques of Catalonia

This is a list of the comarques of Catalonia . A comarca is roughly equivalent to a US "county" or a UK "district". However, in the context of Catalonia, the term "county" can be a bit misleading, because in medieval Catalonia, the most important rulers were counts, notably the Counts of Barcelona...

 "Pla de l'Estany

Pla de l'Estany

Pla de l'Estany is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain. Its name means "plain of the lake", the lake in question being the Lake of Banyoles. Banyoles is also the name of the capital of the comarca and home to over half of its people...

", Province of Girona, in northeastern Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. It is named after the nearby town of Banyoles

Banyoles

Banyoles is a city of 17,309 inhabitants located in the province of Girona in northeastern Catalonia, Spain.The town is the capital of the Catalan comarca "Pla de l'Estany"...

, to which it belongs entirely. On the western shore it borders with the town of Porqueres

Porqueres

Porqueres is a municipality located in the county of Pla de l'Estany, in the province of Girona, in the autonomous region of Catalunya of Spain. The municipality is made up of several villages. Mata, the capital, Les Pedreres in the south, and Miànigues, have the largest part of the population. At...

. The lake is approximately 2,100 m by 750 m with an average depth of 15 m that in several points gets down to 46.4 metres. It is located in a natural tectonic depression.

Presently Lake Banyoles is the largest natural lake in Catalonia. Lake Sils

Lake Sils, Catalonia

Lake Sils, Catalan Estany de Sils or Llac de Sils, was an ancient lake located in Sils, Girona municipal term, in the comarca of Selva, in Catalonia, Spain...

, located 33 kn further south, was formerly the largest lake in the area until it was drained in 1851.

Flora and fauna

There are both native and introduced fish species in the lake, like carp

Carp

Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...

, gardí, bavosa de riu

Salaria fluviatilis

Freshwater blenny, Salaria fluviatilis, is a species of fish in the Blenniidae family. It is found in African rivers and brooks in Algeria and Morocco flowing to the Mediterranean Sea. In Europe it is widespread in the freshwaters of Albania, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Spain,...

, sunfish, tench

Tench

The tench or doctor fish is a freshwater and brackish water fish of the cyprinid family found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including the British Isles east into Asia as far as the Ob and Yenisei Rivers. It is also found in Lake Baikal...

, black bass and eel. It is known that other fishes like the pike, the peix gat and the goldfish

Goldfish

The goldfish is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It was one of the earliest fish to be domesticated, and is one of the most commonly kept aquarium fish....

 were introduced in the 19th century, but no specimens of those species have been found in recent surveys in the lake.

Sports in the lake

This lake became famous as the rowing

Rowing at the 1992 Summer Olympics

At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, 14 events in rowing were contested, eight for men and six for women.-Men's events:-Women's events:-Medal table:-See also:*Rowing at the Summer Olympics*List of Olympic medalists in rowing...

 location for the Barcelona Olympics 1992

1992 Summer Olympics

The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...

 and the World Rowing Championships

World Rowing Championships

The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA . It is a week long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic years is the highlight of the international rowing calendar.The first event was held in Lucerne, Switzerland in 1962...

 in 2004. It is also a popular training location for many foreign rowers, particularly English rowers.

External links

• Data sheet of lake