Editing Lake Constance (section)

=== Fauna ===
==== Birds ====
[[File:Halbinsel Mettnau.JPG|thumb|The Mettnau peninsula]]
Lake Constance is also the home of numerous bird species, many of which nest in its nature reserves, such as the [[Wollmatinger Ried]] or the [[Mettnau]] peninsula. 412 species have so far been recorded.<ref>[http://www.bodensee-ornis.de/informationen-zum-bodensee/beobachtungsgebiete/ Ornithologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft Bodensee: Beobachtungsgebiete] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919054010/http://www.bodensee-ornis.de/informationen-zum-bodensee/beobachtungsgebiete/ |date=2016-09-19 }}</ref>

===== Songbirds =====
The ten most common breeding bird species at Lake Constance according to a 2000–2003 survey in descending order are the: [[Common blackbird|blackbird]], [[chaffinch]], [[house sparrow]], [[great tit]], [[Eurasian blackcap|blackcap]], [[common starling|starling]], [[European robin|robin]], [[common chiffchaff|chiffchaff]], [[European greenfinch|greenfinch]], and [[blue tit]].<ref>''Aufgelistet. Die 10 häufigsten Brutvögelarten…'' In: ''[[Südkurier]].'' 22 October 2010.</ref>

===== Waterfowl =====
[[File:Blässhuhn Fulica atra 03.JPG|thumb|Coot in Hard am Bodensee]]
In spring, the Lake Constance is an important breeding ground, especially for the [[Eurasian coot|coot]] and [[great crested grebe]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bodensee-ornis.de/informationen-zum-bodensee/ |title=Fluctuating water levels |access-date=2017-09-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916032018/http://www.bodensee-ornis.de/informationen-zum-bodensee/ |archive-date=2016-09-16 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Typical waterfowl include the: [[Northern shoveler|shoveler]], [[Common goldeneye|goldeneye]], [[goosander]], [[Common pochard|pochard]], [[grey heron]], [[Northern pintail|pintail]], [[tufted duck]] and [[mallard]].<ref>Information board on the Überlingen promenade.</ref>

In December 2014, 1,389 [[great cormorant|cormorant]] were counted. The International Lake Constance Fishery Association (IBF) estimates the food requirements of the cormorants on Lake Constance at 150 tonnes of fish annually.<ref name="Franz Domgörgen 2015">Franz Domgörgen: ''Stabile Verhältnisse im Vogelparadies.'' ''Stabile Verhältnisse im Vogelparadies.'' In: ''Südkurier.'' 3 January 2015.</ref>

===== Overwintering =====
Lake Constance is an important overwintering area for around 250,000 birds.<ref name="BVET">[https://www.news.admin.ch/de/nsb?id=7771 Bundesamt für Veterinärwesen: Forschungsprojekt "Constanze" am Bodensee gestartet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150123131940/https://www.news.admin.ch/message/?lang=de&msg-id=7771 |date=23 January 2015 }}</ref> annually. Bird species such as the [[dunlin]], the [[Eurasian curlew|curlew]] and the [[Northern lapwing|lapwing]] overwinter at Lake Constance.<ref>[http://www.bodensee-ornis.de/projekte/brachvogelprojekt/ Brachvogelprojekt]</ref> In the middle of December 2014 there were 56,798 heron, 51,713 coot and 43,938 pochard.<ref name="Franz Domgörgen 2015"/> In November/December are about 10,000 to 15,000 [[red-crested pochard]] and 10,000 great crested grebe on Lake Constance.<ref>Franz Domgörgen: ''Wasservögel bleiben Bodensee treu.'' In: ''Südkurier.'' 8 August 2014, p. 23.</ref>

===== Migration =====
During migration in late autumn there are also numerous [[loons]] on the lake ([[Black-throated loon|black-throated]] and [[red-throated loon]], as well as a few [[great northern loon]]s). Lake Constance is also very important as a staging post during the [[bird migration]]. Bird migration is often inconspicuous and most noticeable when there are special weather conditions that make day migration obvious. Only where there is a prolonged spell of widespread low-pressure is it common to observe the congestion of large groups of migratory birds. This can often be observed in autumn on the [[Eriskircher Ried]] on the northern shore of Lake Constance. This is where broad front migration converges on the lake and birds then try to move along the shore towards the northwest. The importance of Lake Constance as an important area for resting and overwintering is underlined by the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology's Radolfzell Bird Observatory (''Vogelwarte Radolfzell''), which is the [[bird ringing]] centre for the German states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland as well as for Austria, and which researches bird migration.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.orn.mpg.de/~vwrado/templates/de/birdrining.html |title=Max-Planck-Forschungsstelle für Ornithologie - Vogelberingung |access-date=2017-09-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070305053525/http://www.orn.mpg.de/~vwrado/templates/de/birdrining.html |archive-date=2007-03-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==== Fish ====
Around 45 species of fish live in Lake Constance. The annual haul from fishing is 1.5 million kg. Unusual species occurring here considering the location of the lake are the [[Coregonus|whitefish]] (''Coregonus'' spec.) and the [[Arctic char]] (''Salvelinus alpinus''). Fish that are important for the fishing industry are:
* [[Bodenseefelchen]] (German: also ''Blaufelchen'', Lat.: ''Coregonus wartmanni'')
* [[Sandfelchen]] (German: also ''Weißfelchen'', Lat.: ''Coregonus arenicolus'')
* [[Gangfisch]] (Lat.: ''Coregonus macrophthalmus'')
* [[Lake Constance whitefish]] (German: ''Kilch'', Lat.: ''Coregonus gutturosus'')
* [[Thymallus thymallus|Grayling]] (German: ''Äsche'', Lat.: ''Thymallus thymallus'')
* [[European perch|Perch]] (German: ''Flussbarsch, Kretzer, Barschling,'' Swiss German: ''Egli'', Lat.: ''Perca fluviatilis'')
* [[Common bream|Bream]] (German: ''Brachse'', ''Brasse'', Lat.: ''Abramis brama'')
* [[Northern pike]] (German: ''Hecht'' (Lat.: ''Esox lucius'')
* [[Zander]] (Lat.: ''Sander lucioperca'')
* [[Burbot]] (German: ''Quappe'', ''Trüsche'', Lat.: ''Lota lota'')<ref>Source: Who is Who Bodensee 2010/2011 Südkurier GmbH Medienhaus</ref>
* [[European eel|Eel]] (German: ''Aal'', Lat.: ''Anguilla anguilla'')
* [[European bullhead|Bullhead]] (German: ''Groppe'', Lat.: ''Cottus gobio'')
* [[Tench]] (German: ''Schleie'', Lat.: ''Tinca tinca'')
* [[Wels catfish]] (German: ''Wels'', Lat.: ''Silurus glanis'')
* [[Salmo trutta lacustris|Lake trout]] (German: ''Seeforelle'', Lat.: ''Salmo trutta lacustris'')

The Bodenseefelchen (''Coregonus wartmanni''), which was named after Lake Constance due to the great numbers found there, is often prepared whole or as a fillet, in the style of the miller's wife (''nach Müllerin Art''), in local fish restaurants in a similar way to other trout<ref name="Fische">Themenpark Umwelt des Umweltministeriums Baden-Württemberg – BodenseeWeb: [http://www.themenpark-umwelt.baden-wuerttemberg.de/servlet/is/16094/?path=4422;&partId=0&part=15854 Fische]</ref> It is also often served smoked.

Two [[endemism|endemic]] species are known to have existed only in Lake Constance, the [[Bodensee-Kilch]] (''Coregonus gutturosus'') and [[deepwater char]] (''Salvelinus profundus''). The former is now assumed to be extinct, while the latter was feared extinct for decades until its rediscovery in the 2010s.<ref>Information board at the harbour in [[Ludwigshafen am Bodensee|Ludwigshafen]] about especially prized Lake Constance fish.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Doenz|first1=Carmela J.|last2=Seehausen|first2=Ole|date=2020|title=Rediscovery of a presumed extinct species, Salvelinus profundus, after re-oligotrophication|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ecy.3065|journal=Ecology|language=en|volume=101|issue=8|pages=e03065|doi=10.1002/ecy.3065|pmid=32274790|bibcode=2020Ecol..101E3065D |s2cid=215726746|issn=1939-9170}}</ref>

==== Introduced species ====
For many years [[non-native species]] have settled in the Lake Constance ecosystem and, in some cases, endangered or threatened native flora and fauna. At Lake Constance, non-native species have been increasing annually. Several have been transported from other waterbodies as 'stowaways' on the outside of boats, life jackets, anchor chains or ropes or diving gear.<ref name="Friedrich W. Strub 2016">Friedrich W. Strub: ''Tierische Neuankömmlinge im Bodensee.'' In: Südkurier dated 20 April 2016.</ref> Others have immigrated from the [[Black Sea]] or the [[Danube]] since the opening of the [[Main-Danube Canal]]. Others have been deliberately introduced.<ref name="Anna-Maria Schneider 2015">Anna-Maria Schneider: ''Die heimliche Invasion unter Wasser.'' In: Südkurier date 8 September 2015.</ref>

===== Well-known non-native species =====
Even the [[rainbow trout]] (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is not a native fish. It was introduced into Lake Constance around 1880 for economic reasons to enhance the local fauna.<ref name="Eingewanderte Arten">Angela Schneider: ''Gepanzerte Truppe erobert den Bodensee.'' In: ''Südkurier.'' dated 9 October 2010.</ref>

Among the foreign species of animal in Lake Constance are the [[zebra mussel]] (''Dreissena polymorpha'') which, since the 18th century, has spread from the Black Sea region across most of Europe and was carried into Lake Constance between 1960 and 1965. After a huge increase in numbers during the 1980s in the Rhine and large lakes, this species is now in retreat today. The zebra mussel causes problems because, among other things, it blocks water extraction pipes. In addition, the species can be a disaster for domestic shellfish, because it competes for their food.<ref name="Neozoen">Angela Schneider: ''Drei von vielen, die sich bereits im Bodensee etabliert haben.'' In: ''Südkurier.'' dated 9 October 2010.</ref> Today, according to the Institute for Lake Research (''Institut für Seenforschung'', ISF), the zebra mussel is also an important food for overwintering waterfowl. In fact, the number of overwinterers has more than doubled in around 30 years.<ref name="Eingewanderte Arten"/>

The [[killer shrimp]] (''Dikerogammarus villosus'') has spread since 2002 from two sections of shoreline near Hagnau and Immenstaad, over the whole Lake Überlingen (2004), the whole of the Upper Lake (2006) and almost the whole Lake Constance and Rheinsee shore (2007).<ref>''Invasion des Höckerflohkrebses.'' In: ''Südkurier.'' dated 9 October 2010.</ref> As its name implies, it is a voracious burglar of fish larvae and fish eggs.<ref name="Eingewanderte Arten"/>

The most recent example is the little [[opossum shrimp]] (''Limnomysis benedeni''), only six to eleven millimeters long, which was found in 2006 in the Vorarlberg region of Hard, and can now be found almost all over Lake Constance.<ref name="Eingewanderte Arten"/> It comes from the waters around the Black Sea. It was presumably first transported by ships up the Danube before it spread into the Rhine river system and entered Lake Constance. The opossum shrimp, which occurs in many places in shoals of several million in winter, are already an influential link in the food chain in Lake Constance. They consume dead animal and plant material as well as [[phytoplankton]], but are also eaten by fish themselves.<ref name = "Neozoen"/>

Today, in western Lake Constance are found: the North American [[spinycheek crayfish]] (''Orconectes limosus''), which was introduced into European waters in the mid-19th century to increase the yield,<ref name="Eingewanderte Arten" /> occasionally the [[Chinese mitten crab]] (''Eriocheir sinensis''), and in the lake's tributaries, the [[signal crayfish]] (''Pacifastacus leniusulus''). As these species of large crayfish are immune to [[crayfish plague]], but spread the pathogen, they are a great danger to native species such as [[noble crayfish]], [[white-clawed crayfish]] or [[stone crayfish]]. The animals are often undemanding, multiply rapidly and lead predatory lives, thus also posing a threat to various small species of fish.<ref name="Neozoen"/> The ISF has been systematically researching the subject since 2003.<ref name="Eingewanderte Arten"/>