Classifying Lakes

Lakes can be classified based on their ability to support plant and animal life. Oligotrophic lakes are generally deep and clear with little aquatic plant growth. These lakes maintain sufficient dissolved oxygen in the cool, deep bottom waters during late summer to support cold-water fish such as trout and whitefish. Lakes that fall between the two extremes of oligotrophic and eutrophic are called mesotrophic lakes.Eutrophic lakes have poor clarity and support abundant aquatic plant growth. In deep eutrophic lakes, the cool bottom waters usually contain little or no dissolved oxygen. Therefore, these lakes can only support warm-water fish such as bass and pike.

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To watch a short video on lake classification click here or on the adjacent images.