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Lake Scutari (Albanian: Liqeni i Shkodrës,Serbian/: Skadarsko jezero; Cyrillic: Скадарско језеро) is a lake on the border of Montenegro with Albania and is the largest lake in the Balkan Peninsula. It is named after the city Shkodra (Skadar, Scutari) in northern Albania.
Its surface, 6 m above sea level, can vary between 370 and 530 square kilometers, making it the largest lake in the Balkans. The lake is a cryptodepression, filled by the Morača River and drained into the Adriatic by the 41 kilometer-long Buna/Bojana River, which forms the international border on the lower half of its length.
The Montenegrin part of the lake and its surrounding area were declared a national park in 1983. It is one of the largest bird reserves in Europe, having 270 bird species, among which are some of the last pelicans in Europe, and thus popular with birders. Skadar lake also contains habitats of seagulls and herons and is abundant in fish, especially in carp, bleak and eel.
In 1996, by Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, it was included in the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance.
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