PEARSE FISHES OF LAKE VALENCIA, VENEZUELA 7 



LAKE VALENCIA 



Lake Valencia lies between two mountain ranges about 

 thirty miles south of Porto Cabello, Venezuela. It is surrounded 

 by a basin of considerable size and the level of the lake has 

 apparently been falling for some time. The shores, except 

 around the islands, are everywhere composed of soft mud 

 which supports a thick growth of rushes (Fig. 1). A mile or 

 more from the shores the soil consists of soft black bottom 

 deposits containing numerous weathering snail shells and the 



FIG. 1. Rush-grown shore of Lake Valencia near Maracay. 



remains of other aquatic organisms. According to Dr. A. 

 Jahn, a topographic engineer residing in Caracas, Lake Val- 

 encia drains through the Rio Pao, a tributary of the Orinoco, 

 in the rainy season, but during the long dry season water 

 often flows from the river into the lake. Dr. Jahn stated that 

 the surface of the lake has varied from 412 M. to 415 M. 

 above sea level during the past twenty years. He said that 

 he had made extensive soundings and found the greatest depth 

 to be about fifty meters. The lake is about fifty kilometers 

 long. 



Lake Valencia contains twenty-two islands, the shores of 

 which are for the most part rocky, pebbly, or sandy (Fig. 2). 

 The largest, Isla del Euro, is about five kilometers long. The 



