Krokų Lanka is the only lake of marine origin in Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

 and the largest lake in the Šilutė district municipality

Šilute district municipality

Šilutė district municipality is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania. It is known for spring floods when ice on Neman River starts melting. This is the only municipality in Lithuania that gets flooded on regular basis....

. It is located in the Nemunas Delta Regional Park

Nemunas Delta Regional Park

Nemunas Delta Regional Park, established in 1994, is located in Lithuania within the Nemunas Delta where the Nemunas flows into the Baltic Sea. The park covers 29,013 hectares....

 on the Baltic Sea

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

 shore near Nemunas Delta

Nemunas Delta

Nemunas Delta is the Lithuanian name for the Neman River Delta, in Lithuania.When it reaches the Baltic Sea, the Neman splits into a maze of river branches and canals, forming polders and wetlands that make it a very attractive destination for eco-tourism. The four main distributaries are Atmata,...

 and Ventė Cape. It covers a territory of 788 ha

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

. Aukštumala bog, covering 3018 ha and used for peat

Peat

Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...

 production since 1882, is located just north of the lake and Mingė

Minge

Mingė or Minija is a small fishermen's village in Šilutė district, Lithuania on Minija river, and is part of Nemunas Delta Regional Park. This village is unique in Lithuania as the main "road" is the river. Houses are situated on both banks and there is no bridge to connect them...

 village is located on the western bank. In the south a narrow strip of water connects the lake with Atmata, a branch of the Neman River

Neman River

Neman or Niemen or Nemunas, is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian Lagoon and then into the Baltic Sea at Klaipėda. It is the northern border between Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast in its lower reaches...

.

Krokų Lanka was created when alluvial

Alluvium

Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...

 deposits from the Neman River separated a part of the Curonian Lagoon

Curonian Lagoon

The Curonian Lagoon is separated from the Baltic Sea by the Curonian Spit. Its surface area is . The Neman River supplies about 90% of its inflows; its watershed consists of about 100,450 square kilometers in Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Oblast.-Human history:In the 13th century, the area around...

. The lake is very shallow, with greatest depth of only 2.5 meters, and overgrown with water plants. It is poised to eventually turn into a bog but now it is a paradise for a variety of water birds, including Eurasian Bittern (botaurus stellaris), Greylag Goose

Greylag Goose

The Greylag Goose , Anser anser, is a bird with a wide range in the Old World. It is the type species of the genus Anser....

 (anser anser), Montagu's Harrier

Montagu's Harrier

The Montagu's Harrier is a migratory bird of prey of the harrier family. Its common name commemorates the British naturalist George Montagu.-Plumage:...

 (circus pygargus), Black-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed Godwit

The Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa limosa, is a large, long-legged, long-billed shorebird first described by Carolus Linnaeus in 1758. It is a member of the Limosa genus, the godwits...

 (limosa limosa), Eurasian Curlew

Eurasian Curlew

The Eurasian Curlew, Numenius arquata, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across temperate Europe and Asia...

(numenius arquata). In spring and fall the lake attracts large groups of migratory birds. Krokų Lanka is also important area for spawning fishes. To protect this environment botanical and zoological reserve, covering 1214 ha, was established in 1992.