Neman River

Neman
Map highlighting Neman
Origin	Belarus, 45 km south of Minsk
Mouth	Curonian Lagoon (Baltic Sea)
Basin countries	Belarus, Lithuania, Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia), Poland
Length	937 km (582 mi)
Source elevation	176 m (577 ft)
Avg. discharge	616 m³/s (21 757 ft³/s)
Basin area	98 000 km² (37 838 mi²)

Neman River near Alytus.

Neman or Niemen or Nemunas is a major Eastern European river. It starts in Belarus and floww through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian Lagoon and then into the Baltic Sea at Klaipėda. It is the northern border between Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast in its lower reaches. It also very briefly forms part of the border between Lithuania and Belarus. It is the largest river in Lithuania and the 3rd largest in Belarus. People are able to travel on it for most of its 900-kilometer length. Its depth varies from one meter to five meters.

The Neman tributaries

The Neman tributaries are: the rivers Neris (Viliya), the Shchara, and the Šešupė, Svisloch, Nevėžis River, Dubysa, Jūra, Minija, Western Berezina, Zelvyanka, Molchad, Roś, Servech, Losha, Gorodnichanka and others.

Biological communities

The following fish have been found in the Neman: perch, pike, zander, roach, tench, bream, rudd, ruffe, and bleak. Its tribitaries also contain stone loach, the three-spined stickleback, minnows, trout, sculpins, gudgeon, dace and chub.

Atlantic salmon used to migrate upstream to spawn. The dams on the river made there be less. The dam at Kaunas does not provide fish ladders.