Land Locked - Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the largest land locked sea on Earth by area. It has a surface area of 371,000 square kilometres (143,244 sq miles) and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometres (18,761 cu miles). It is a landlocked endorheic body of water (a watershed from which there is no outflow of water) and lies between Russia and Iran. It has a maximum depth of about 1025 metres (3,363 feet). It is called a sea because when the Romans first arrived there, they tasted the water and found it to be salty. It has a salinity of approximately 1.2%, about a third the salinity of most water from the ocean.

The Caspian Sea is bordered by Russia, Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, with the central Asian steppes to the north and east. On its eastern Turkmen shore is a large embayment, the Garabogazköl. The sea is connected to the Sea of Azov in the north by the Manych Canal and the Volga-Don Canal.

Depending on the inflow of fresh water from its effluents, the Caspian Sea is a fresh-water lake in its northern portions. It is more saline on the Iranian shore. The largely dried-up Garabogazköl embayment approaches oceanic salinity.

The sea is estimated to be about 30 million years old. It became landlocked about 5.5 million years ago.

The Caspian Sea holds great numbers of sturgeon (One of the oldest genera of fish in existence), which yield eggs that are processed into caviar. In recent years overfishing has threatened the sturgeon population to the point that environmentalists advocate banning sturgeon fishing completely until the population recovers. Caviar harvesting further endangers the fish stocks, since it targets reproductive females.

	The Caspian Seal is endemic to the Caspian Sea and is one of very few seal species living in inland waters. They can be found not only along the shorelines, but also on the many rocky islands and floating blocks of ice that dot the Caspian Sea.
In winter and cooler parts of the spring and autumn seasons, these seals populate the Northern Caspian sea area.

The area has given its name to several species of birds, including the Caspian Gull and the Caspian Tern.

There are several species of fish endemic to the Caspian sea, including Kutum (also known as Caspian White Fish), Caspian Roach, Bream and a species of salmon. Caspian Salmon is critically endangered.