Lake Toro

About Lake Toro

The largest of the three freshwater lakes on the eastern edge of the Kushiro Wetland. The wetland was once sea, then a brackish lagoon, and peat began accumulating about 3,000 years ago to form today's marsh. In winter the ice forms omiwatari ridges, and people fish for smelt through holes in the ice. The 1991 survey recorded Sakhalin taimen, Japanese smelt and Japanese dace, and smew and whooper swans in winter.

Sources: Ministry of the Environment, Ramsar Site leaflet: Kushiro-shitsugen, Ministry of the Environment, Kushiroshitsugen National Park: Highlights, Environment Agency of Japan, Lake Survey Report: Data Appendix (1993) (sources in Japanese)

Lake data

Area

6.27 km²#14 in Hokkaido

Maximum depth

6.9 m#31 in Hokkaido

Average depth

3.1 m

Surface elevation

6.01 m

Transparency

1.1 m#41 in Hokkaidoas of the 1991 survey

Origin

Lagoon-origin lake

Lake type

Eutrophic

Fresh or brackish

Freshwater

Freezing

Freezes in winter

Unmodified lake

No

Natural park

Kushiroshitsugen National Park

Ramsar Convention

Ramsar Site

Lake number

0560number in the national lake survey

Sources: Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, Area Statistics of Prefectures and Municipalities 2026 (as of July 1), Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, Lake Survey (surveyed 1992), Environment Agency of Japan, 4th National Survey on the Natural Environment: Lake Survey Report (1993). Area and depth use newer figures from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan where available. Origin, lake type, transparency, freezing and unmodified status are as of the 1991 survey.

Themes that include Lake Toro

• Lagoon-origin lakes
• Eutrophic lakes
• Freshwater lakes