L'estany de Banyoles

Historia

Lake of Banyoles is a natural lake located in the comarca "Pla de l'Estany", Province of Girona, in northeastern Catalonia, Spain. It is named after the nearby town of Banyoles, to which it belongs entirely. On the western shore it borders with the town of Porqueres. 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, located 33 kn further south, was formerly the largest lake in the area until it was drained in 1851.Flora and faunaThere are both native and introduced fish species in the lake, like carp, gardí, bavosa de riu, sunfish, tench, black bass and eel. It is known that other fishes like the pike, the peix gat and the goldfish were introduced in the 19th century, but no specimens of those species have been found in recent surveys in the lake.