Black Sea–Caspian Steppe The Manych Depression is not much more than 65 feet above sea level and the area around Astrakhan and part of Kalmykia is below sea level. Rivers: Through the center runs the northwest-tending Kuma-Manych Depression. This was once a strait connecting the Black and Caspian Seas and is now marked by the Manych River which is basically a chain of lakes. It will probably be the route of the Eurasia Canal if that great engineering work is ever built. In the south the rivers that flow north from the Caucasus are caught by the west-flowing Kuban River and the east-flowing
Black Sea sprat Used for food; it has around 12% fat in flesh. It is one of the most abundant fishes in the Sea of Azov. It is important prey for other fishes, particularly the pikeperch. The Caspian tyulka "Clupeonella caspia" has been long considered a subspecies of "C. cultriventris", "C. cultriventris caspia", and a common name "Black and Caspian Sea sprat" was then applied to the whole. Black Sea sprat The Black Sea sprat, "Clupeonella cultriventris", is a small fish of the herring family, Clupeidae. It is found in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov and rivers of its basins: Danube,