Vortsjärv

Vőrtsjärv 

a lake in the Estonian SSR. Area, 270 sq km; average depth, 2.8 m; greatest depth, 6 m. Its shores are, for the most part, low-lying. The lake extends from north to south and ends in the south with a narrow cove into which the Väike-Emajőgi River flows. In the northern part of the Vőrtsjärv is the beginning of the Emajőgi River, which flows into Lake Čudskoje. During the Lower Holocene geological epoch the Vőrtsjärv was almost three times as big as it is now, and its water flowed into the Gulf of Riga. Lake Vőrtsjärv and the Emajőgi River are navigable. For commercial purposes the most important fish are the bream, pike-perch, and pike; commercial fishing of the eel has also been developed. Located on the lake’s eastern shore is the Limnological Station of the Institute of Zoology and Botany of the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR.