The lake is as salty as the sea near its mouth but bottom springs make the water much less saline near the head.

Technically it is no longer a lake but rather a bay since 1961, when a 200-metre width canal was washed through the sandy peresyp separating it from the Black Sea, when the construction of a Soviet naval base [ru] started.

[3][1] Donuzlav is located in Chornomorske and Saky raions (districts) at the Tarkhankut Peninsula[1] as well as Yevpatoria Municipality.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union it was converted into the Southern Naval Base of Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Early on 1 February 2024, Ivanovets, a Russian Tarantul-class corvette, was sunk in Lake Donuzlav after an attack by surface drones.