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 IT LIVES ONLY IN BAIKAL
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First reliable information about Baikal and its incredible fish kingdom was obtained from Russian pioneers. They were astonished by the depth of the Siberian sea, its crystal-clear waters, rich in large fatty sturgeons, numerous populations of omul, whitefish and kharius… This news was of particular interest, and Russian Academy of Science in the XVIII century equipped first expeditions. At that time, a mysterious fish that lives nowhere else was described - semitransparent, without scales, living in the depth of the lake and appearing rarely on the surface. "If there is something rare that lives only in Baikal, - the academician Pallas wrote, - it is the fish called by Russians kolomenka. It is hard like a piece of lard and so greasy that if fried only vertebrae remain, and everything else runs. It keeps to the deepest waters of Baikal…
However, not this description surprised the world. Golomiankas were revealed viviparous. This discovery stirred up the scientific world. How would such a strange fish get into cold waters of Baikal?
First of all, it appeared that not one but two species of golomianka inhabited Baikal. It came out that golomiankas and gobies were descended from one or several common ancestors and were formed in Baikal waters not more than two million years ago. It means, then, that golomiankas did not come from some faraway seas but came into being in this very lake and adjusted to its vast spaciousness, to this real sea way of living, stopped spawning on the stones, but started to give birth to ready-made' small fishes. Golomianka gives birth to small fishes in February-March under the ice in the upper layers of water. Adult golomianka is transparent - the spine and blood vessels can be seen through the skin. Golomianka can live freely in the maximal Baikal depth (up to 1620 m), it swims vertically during twenty-four-hour period. Overall numbers of golomianka - up to 50 milliard specimens, and biomass - up to 150 hundreds tons! In the thick mass of water it stands vertically, leaning on water with large pectoral fins. It is quite cozy for the fish - the mouth is wide open and it can get whatever comes from above.
Baikal is mighty and wonderful - it is an unique ecologic system, a small fresh-water ocean, the depths of which, as we can clearly see in incredible viviparous fishes - golomiankas, are still full of mysteries and discoveries.
Based on publications from "Wanderings time"
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