[4] Before construction of the Panama Canal, a stagecoach line owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt's Accessory Transit Company connected the lake with the Pacific across the low hills of the narrow Isthmus of Rivas.

[5] Protests against the ecological and social effects of the canal as well as questions about financing led to doubts about the project,[6] and in the end construction never began.

In 1961, following comparisons of specimens, it was synonymized with the widespread bull shark (C. leucas),[7] a species also known for entering freshwater elsewhere around the world.

[9] As evidence of these movements, bull sharks tagged inside the lake have later been caught in the open ocean (and vice versa), with some taking as little as 7–11 days to complete the journey.

Owing to the large amount of waste they produce, and the risk of introducing diseases to which the native fish species have no resistance, they are potentially a serious threat to the lake's ecosystem.

The lake has sizeable waves driven by the easterly winds blowing west to the Pacific Ocean.

In 1981 the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA) conducted an environmental assessment study and found that half of the water sources sampled were seriously polluted by sewage.

The country's worst drought in 32 years took its toll on the lake in 2014; the Nicaraguan government recommended citizens to raise and eat iguanas over chickens to reduce water consumption.