Lake Antiniotissa

Lake Antiniotissa or Antinioti (Greek: Λίμνη Αντινιώτισσα/Αντινιώτη), sometimes known as Antinioti Lagoon, is a small brackish lake on the north-east coast of Corfu, Greece near Agios Spyridon beach. It is an important wetland area^[1] and lies within a Natura 2000 nature protection area^[2] of 188 hectares (460 acres)^[3] at the western edge of the municipal unit of Thinali. The lake's Greek name translates into English as "the enemy of youth". It was once a malarial swamp and home to the anopheles mosquito,^[4] resulting in the area being uninhabited for many centuries, and it is still comparatively undeveloped. The vegetation surrounding the lake includes thickets of reed and bamboo. Inland there are orchards, olive groves and farmland, while between the lake and the sea lie sand dunes. The lake is jointly owned by the twelve principal villages of north-eastern Corfu and leased for fish farming, producing flathead grey mullet, sea bass and eel. It is also used for duck hunting.^[5] The adjacent dunes are home to the sand lily (pancratium maritimum) and the agile frog (rana dalmatina).^[6] The lake as it was in the 1930s was described by the British naturalist Gerald Durrell in his childhood autobiography My Family and Other Animals, in which it was called the "Lake of Lillies".^[7] Durrell wrote that:^[8]

it was a mile long, an elongated sheet of shallow water surrounded by a thick mane of cane and reed, and separated from the sea at one end by a wide, gently curving dune of white sand… It was the only place on the island where those sand lilies grew, strange misshapen bulbs buried in the sand, that once a year sent up thick green leaves and white flowers above the surface, so that the dune became a glacier of flowers.

— Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals

Lake Antiniotissa
Lake Antiniotissa
Location	Corfu, Greece
Coordinates	39.813148°N 19.850539°E / 39.813148; 19.850539

The outlet of Lake Antinioti into the Ionian Sea.

References

1. Anthony Hirst; Patrick Sammon (2014). The Ionian Islands: Aspects of their History and Culture. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 237. ISBN 9781443862783. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
2. John Waller (November 2007). "The 'Famous Five' of Corfu's Natura 2000 sites" (PDF). The Corfiot. No. 203. Pedestrian Publications. p. 17. ISSN 1107-3640. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
3. "Limnothalassa Antinioti (Kerkyra)". FILOTIS: Database of Greek Nature. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
4. Theodore Stephanides (October 1937). "The Mosquitos Of The Island Of Corfu, Greece" (PDF). Bulletin of Entomological Research. 28 (3). The Imperial Institute of Entomology: 341–524. doi:10.1017/s0007485300038876. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
5. James Chatto; W. L. Martin (1998). A Kitchen in Corfu. New Amsterdam Books. pp. 84–5. ISBN 9781461663300.
6. Marco A.L. Zuffi (2006). Societas herpetologica italica: atti del V Congresso nazionale : Calci (PI), 29 settembre-3 ottobre 2004. Firenze University Press. p. 208. ISBN 9788884534217. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
7. Ben Mallalieu (23 February 2002). "Family favourites". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
8. John Waller (2015). Walking the Corfu Trail: With Friends, Flowers and Food. Yiannis Books. ISBN 9781783016402.