page_title: Qinghai Lake
section_title: Wildlife
hierarchical_section_title: Qinghai Lake / Wildlife
caption_attribution_description: Bird Island, Qinghai Lake.
context_page_description: Qinghai Lake or Ch'inghai Lake, also known by other names, is the largest lake in China. Located in an endorheic basin in Qinghai Province, to which it gave its name, Qinghai Lake is classified as an alkaline salt lake. The lake has fluctuated in size, shrinking over much of the 20th century but increasing since 2004. It had a surface area of 4,317 km², an average depth of 21 m, and a maximum depth of 25.5 m in 2008.
context_section_description: The lake is located at the crossroads of several bird migration routes across Asia. Many species use Qinghai as an intermediate stop during migration. As such, it is a focal point in global concerns regarding avian influenza (H5N1), as a major outbreak here could spread the virus across Europe and Asia, further increasing the chances of a pandemic. Minor outbreaks of H5N1 have already been identified at the lake. The Bird Islands have been sanctuaries of the Qinghai Lake Natural Protection Zone since 1997.
  There are five native fish species: The edible naked carp (Gymnocypris przewalskii, 湟鱼; huángyú), which is the most abundant in the lake, and four stoneloaches (Triplophysa stolickai, T. dorsonotata, T. scleroptera and T. siluroides). Other Yellow River fish species occurred in the lake, but they disappeared with the increasing salinity and basicity, beginning in the early Holocene.
caption: A bird island
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