Bosten Lake (traditional Chinese: 博斯騰湖; simplified Chinese: 博斯腾湖; pinyin: Bósīténg Hú, Uyghur: باغراش كۆلى / Бағраш Көли / Baghrash Köli / Baƣrax Kɵli, Chagatai: Bostang) is a freshwater lake on the northeastern rim of the Tarim Basin, about 20 km (12 mi) east of Yanqi and 57 km (35 mi) northeast of Korla, Xinjiang, China in the Bayin'gholin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture.
[1] Bosten lake receives water inflow from a catchment area of 56,000 km2 (22,000 sq mi).
[2] The lake's Mongol, Uyghur and Chinese names are sometimes rendered as Bosten Hu, Bagrax-hu, Bagrasch-köl, Baghrasch köl, Bagratsch-kul, Bositeng Lake or Bositeng Hu.
Until the early 1970s, two cyprinid species, Schizothorax biddulphi and Aspiorhynchus laticeps, the latter of which is endemic to Bosten Lake and the Yarkand River, were responsible for 80 percent of the annual catch.
[4] Since 1978, the introduced European perch has been the dominating species in the catches from Bosten Lake.