Fish of Germany

Three major basins cross the country and do not end in the same place. The Rhine and the Elbe run to the North Sea, the Danube heads for the Black Sea across central Europe. That watershed explains marked differences in fauna between north and south, which canals have since partly blurred.

The north is scattered with lakes left by the glaciers, often shallow and weedy, supporting a highly developed stillwater fishery. The south, backing onto the Alps, offers the opposite: cold fast rivers and deep glacial lakes.

Both sea frontages are unusual. The Baltic is almost enclosed and barely saline — to the point that freshwater species live in it — while the North Sea, under strong tides, uncovers immense flats along the whole coast.