The Ounasjoki River is the Kemijoki

Kemijoki

Kemijoki , with its length, is the longest river in Finland. It runs through Kemijärvi and Rovaniemi before reaching the Gulf of Bothnia at Kemi.At Rovaniemi the Ounasjoki river merges with Kemijoki....

 River's largest tributary, as well as, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

's longest single river tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

. It is also the largest river entirely within its borders. Ounasjoki is approximately 299.6 kilometres (186.2 mi) in length, and the catchment area is 13968 square kilometres (5,393.1 sq mi), 27 percent of the Kemi catchment area.

Course

The Ounasjoki River originates at Ounasjärvi Lake in Enontekiö

Enontekiö

Enontekiö is a municipality in the Finnish part of Lapland with approx. inhabitants. It is situated in the outermost northwest of the country and occupies a large and very sparsely populated area of about between the Swedish and Norwegian border...

. It flows first eastwards through Lake Periläjärvi and turns south after some seven kilometres. The river then follows southern-southeasternly course until its confluence with the Kemi River at Rovaniemi

Rovaniemi

Rovaniemi is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland. It is situated close to the Arctic Circle and is between the hills of Ounasvaara and Korkalovaara, at the confluence of the Kemijoki River and its...

.

Fauna

Grayling

Grayling (genus)

Thymallus is a genus of freshwater fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes; it is the only genus of subfamily Thymallinae. The type species is T. thymallus, the grayling. The genus's five distinct species are generically called graylings, but without qualification this also refers...

, trout

Trout

Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...

, pike and other fish typical to northern Finland are found in the Ounasjoki.

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