C111-00858
Lough Hyne (Irish: Loch Oighinn) is a marine lake in West Cork, Ireland, about 5 km southwest of Skibbereen. It was designated as Ireland’s first Marine Nature Reserve in 1981. Lough Hyne was probably a freshwater lake until about four millennia ago, when rising sea levels flooded it with saline ocean water. The lake is now fed by tidal currents that rush in from the Atlantic through Barloge Creek. The stretch between the creek and the lake is known as ‘The Rapids. ‘ The lake’s small size, only 0.8 km by 0.6 km, creates an unusual habitat of highly oxygenated yet warm seawater that sustains an enormous variety of plants and animals, many of which are not found anywhere else in Ireland.
Photographer: Phil Crean
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