Blidinje lake is the largest natural mountain lake in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with surface area varying between 2.5 and 6 square kilometres (0.97 and 2.32 sq mi), and Buško Blato lake with its size of 56.7 square kilometres (21.9 sq mi) is the biggest artificial accumulation in Bosnia and Herzegovina; this lake was made from accumulation of water from the Buško Blato marshland, earlier natural slough and morass system.
It was written in older literature that the mountain lakes of Bosnia and Herzegovina were made because of glacial movements, and the lower altitude lakes of river flows in combination with glaciations, but many other facts were unattended.
In the mountain parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina animal husbandry had a crucial impact on lakes.
Unlike the mountain lakes of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Plivsko Lake was made of a natural chemical precipitate of carbonate minerals and forming travertine sediment in the process.
Ichthyological research of natural lakes of Bosnia and Herzegovina began in 1924 and that research determined good natural and biological opportunities for the fish farming.