Goby Lake

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Goby Lake is a saltwater lake on Koror Island in Palau. It is about 260 meters long, covers about 2.1 hectares, and is up to 18 meters deep. It’s one of around 70 marine lakes in the Rock Islands and Koror.

The lake is famous for a unique golden jellyfish that lives there. It’s also used for scientists’ study of evolution, along with other Palau lakes like Jellyfish Lake, Clear Lake, Uet era Ngermeuangel, and Uet era Ongael. Clear Lake connects to the ocean, but Goby Lake is fairly isolated, so it has fewer species than nearby lagoons. The golden jellyfish in Goby Lake has evolved to be quite different from its relatives in the lagoons. The lake also has gobies and other fish.

The deepest part, in the northeast, has two water layers: an upper oxygen-rich layer and a lower oxygen-poor layer. Oxygen drops from about 6 mg/L near the surface to essentially zero at around 10 meters. There is no seasonal mixing of the layers.

Goby Lake is one of about 200 salty meromictic lakes worldwide, where layers don’t mix. Most meromictic lakes are freshwater, but Palau has several permanently stratified marine lakes, including the well-known Jellyfish Lake.