Thanks to its variety of water bodies, including with springwater, interconnected rivers and the nearby Lagoon of Marano, in which many rivers flow into,
One of them is Muzzanella, which originates from a spring with the name “Roggia Revonchio”. River Turgnano flows from Muzzanella into the Lagoon. Cormor, once a rushing stream of morainic origin, underwent a major riverbed digging in the 1950s.
All these rivers flow out into the lagoon, where their freshwater mixes with saltwater from the sea. Particularly at high tide, saltwater flows back into the rivers for several hundred meters altering water salinity.
These varied water types in a relatively small area favor a particularly diverse and rich fish fauna which combines freshwater and saltwater species. Nearly all the species known in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region are present in the area.
Next to native species there are non-native ones, which were either introduced intentionally or happened to reach the area through other waterways more or less recently.
An example thereof is the common carp (Cyprinus carpio), which is generally considered to native but, in reality, it was introduced by the ancient Romans. The perch fry (Perca fluviatilis) has always been present in the nearby river Stella, but reached the waters around the Woods of Muzzana only recently.
Further species are euryhaline organisms, namely those species that migrate periodically swimming up rivers from the lagoon,
For a comprehensive overview of the species, please visit our checklist
A wide variety of fresh and saltwater fish
The diversity of the water types, even in a relatively small area, has favoured the presence of a rich fauna of both freshwater and saltwater fish. Almost all species known in the region can be found here.
