It covers an area of 8,300 sq. km [km²] and a narrow strait, Tiquina, separates the lake into two bodies of water. The average depth is about 100 m with the deepest point at 284 m. The best-known of Titicaca's islands are the so called Uros, floating islands of reed named after the Indians who inhabited them. These 42 small islands have been made by hand from totora reeds that grow in the shallow waters of the lake.
The wetland is a permanent freshwater lake, with associated marshes and extensive areas of emergent aquatic vegetation. There is a number of endemic fish species present and the site is extremely important for migratory shorebirds and Andean waterbirds, including three species of flamingo.
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