Lake Okeechobee is Florida’s largest freshwater lake and a habitat used by manatees.
Its name comes from Hitchiti words meaning “big water,” an apt description of a lake covering about 730 square miles. Despite its enormous surface area, Lake Okeechobee is remarkably shallow, averaging only about 9 feet deep. The lake sits in a broad geological trough connected to the Kissimmee River valley and the Everglades.
Manatees use the lake and its connected waterways, especially during warmer months and when aquatic vegetation is plentiful. The Kissimmee River supplies more than 60% of the lake’s inflow, while water also leaves through the Everglades and engineered canals leading toward Florida’s coasts.
Lake Champlain and Lake Michigan are larger or more regionally famous, but they are not Florida lakes. Lake Okeechobee is also not a deep blue mountain lake: its shallow, wind-mixed waters often contain suspended sediment and support a very different wetland ecosystem.