The Neretva river the coldest river in the world

In the land of magnificent rivers, like nowhere else in Europe, unanimously Neretva River is the gorgeous one in Bosnia & Herzegovina.

The Neretva River got its name from old Celts, they called the river “Nera Etwa” which means the “Flowing Divinity”.This emerald is also the coldest rivers in the world, where even in summer the average water’s temperature doesn’t go higher than 7 degrees Celsius.

Neretva river is 225 km long and mostly it is flowing through the Bosnia and Herzegovina (203 km), and partly, before it reach in the Adriatic Sea, through Croatia (22 km). Neretva springs under the mountains Apple in BiH. It springs in the high mountainous regions in the Herzegovina and this river mostly has the characteristics of mountain rivers.

Because of these characteristics on the Neretva river are built hydro: Jablanica, Grabovica, Salakovac, Mostar.

On its way to the Adriatic Neretva river flows through some of the most beautiful cities: Konjic, Jablanica, Mostar, Capljina, Pocitelj.

It is known for its emerald-green color, it is so clean and in headwaters it is safe for drinking. Neretva River drained into the Adriatic Sea.

In the Neretva river lives so many kinds of fishes. Some of them are: Neretva’s softmouth trout,marbled trout, brown trout, gera, eels.

The River Neretva and its tributaries represent the main drainage system in the east Adriatic watershed and the foremost ichthyofaunal habitat of the region.

Salmonid fishes from the Neretva basin show considerable variation in morphology, ecology and behaviour. It is therefore not surprising that several species, i.e. Salmo trutta Linnaeus, 1758 (brown trout), Salmo marmoratus Cuvier, 1817 (marble trout), Salmo obtusirostris Heckel, 1851 (softmouth trout), Salmo farioides Karaman, 1937 and Salmo dentex Heckel, 1851 (no common name exists for the last two) were identified by early studies (Heckel, 1852; Karaman, 1937).

While some of these taxa have controversial histories, the existence of both Salmo trutta and Salmo marmoratus has been well accepted (Karaman, 1926; Vuković, 1982; Kosorić et al., 1983). Similarly, the marbled trout from the River Neretva has been assumed as Salmo marmoratus although no reliable analysis has ever been carried out to confirm its conspecificity with Salmo marmoratus stocks from the northern Adriatic watershed.

The status of Salmo dentex and Salmo farioides has always been questionable, mainly due to inadequate original descriptions and rare sightings.

On the basis of recent morphological study performed by Delling (2003), another new species that “in morphology appears intermediate between Salmo trutta and Salmo obtusirostris” has been described in the River Neretva and tentatively assigned as Salmo cf. montenigrinus (referring to Trutta montenigrina Karaman, 1933 from the River Morača, Montenegro).

Natural hybrids between Salmo obtusirostris × Salmo trutta and Salmo marmoratus × Salmo trutta have also been observed and reported in the Neretva basin (Vuković, 1982).

 

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