Lake Musters and Lake Colhue Huapi - Lake Musters

Lake Musters

This lake, once called Otrón by the ancient tehuelches, received its current name in 1876 from naturalist and geographer Francisco Pascasio Moreno who aimed to honour the patagonian adventurer George Chaworth Musters.

Musters occupies a cretacic conformed depression in the central patagonic mesa. It receives the highly branched inflow of Senguerr river by its southern coast after a 350 km voyage from the Andes. Several of those branches reach lake Colhué Huapi by a sinuous course called Falso Senguerr; the only permanent one feeding such lake.

Te lake is of tectonic origin, with average depths of 20m, which gives a deep blue water hue. It is considered mesotrophic, considering its nutrient and algae mass (<5,2 g/m³). Musters presents an abundant aquatic fauna comprising patagonian perch (Percichthys trucha) and patagonian silversides (Odontesthes microlepidotus). Also, as it's the case with most patagonian lakes, foreign salmonidae have been implanted, like Salvelinus fontinalis, Oncorhynchus mykiss, and in lesser amounts, Salmo fario. These species have added environmental pressure over two native species nowadays endangered in the lake (Diplomystres viedmensis mesembrinus and Galaxias platei).