Taal Lake - Ecology

Ecology

Because the lake was until recently connected to the sea, it is home to many endemic species that have evolved and adapted to the desalination of the lake's waters. The lake has a freshwater-adapted population of trevally, Caranx ignobilis. These fishes, also found in the Pansipit River, are locally called maliputo. Its most popular endemic species is the overharvested Sardinella tawilis, a freshwater sardine. The two other endemic fish species in Taal Lake are the gobies Gnatholepis volcanus and Rhinogobius flavoventris.

Taal Lake is also home to one of the world's rarest sea snakes, Hydrophis semperi. This particular species is only one of two "true" sea snake species that are known to live entirely in freshwater(the other is Laticauda crockeri from the Solomon Islands). Bull sharks, Carcharhinus leucas, used to be part of the lake's once-diverse ecosystem, but they were exterminated by the locals in the 1930s.