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Pulicat Lake is a brackish-water lake on the Coromandel Coast of southeastern India. It lies at the border of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh states, 60 km north of Chennai. The barrier island of Sriharikote separates the lake from the Bay of Bengal. Sriharikote is home to the town of Pulicat.The lake is 60 km long and from 0.2 to 17.5 km wide, and is the second-largest brackish water ecosystem on India's east coast, after Orissa's Chilka Lake. The lake is shallow, and varies in area with the tides and seasonal rainfall, from 460 sq km in high water to 250 sq km in low water.
The shallow lake is known for its diversity of aquatic birds, and is an important stopover on migration routes. Approximately 15,000 flamingos visit the lake each year, along with pelicans, kingfishers, herons, painted storks, spoonbillSpoonbills Roseate Spoonbill : Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Ciconiiformes : Threskiornithidae Plateinae Genera and Platalea P. leucorodia P. minor P. alba P. regia P. flavipes Ajaia A. ajaja Spoonbills are a group of large long-legged wading birds in thes and duckDendrocygninae Oxyurinae Anatinae Merginae The word duck was also used as slang for the WWII amphibious vehicle called a DUKW. The word duck meaning the bird, came from the verb "to duck" meaning to bend down as if to get under something, because of the ws. The beaches of Sriharikote are an important nesting spot for sea turtleCaretta Lepidochelys Chelonia Eretmochelys Natator Dermochelys Sea turtles are large, ocean-dwelling turtles. There are seven species of sea turtle, all endangered: Family Cheloniidae Subfamily Carettinae Genus Caretta Caretta caretta Loggerhead Sea Turtls.
Although much of the lake is protected as a wildlife sanctuary, proposals for a petrochemicalA petrochemical is any chemical derived from fossil fuel. These include purified fossil fuels such as methane, propane, butane, gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, aviation fuel, or fuel oil, and also include many agricultural chemicals such as pesticides, h complex, power plant, and a satellite port on Ennore creek have raised concern about the continued ecological health of the lake.
