Lake Trasimeno is considered a laminar lake, which means it is shallow: in fact, it covers an area of 128 square kilometres but is no more than 6 metres deep. Although this make it similar to smaller lakes, fish life abound here.
Between endemic and reintroduced fish, there are 19 species.
The endemic species include pike (Esox lucius), classified as predatory fish. This means they feed on other fish. Other species include the eel (Anguilla anguilla), tench (Tinca tinca), chub (Leuciscus cephalus), and rudd (Scardinius erytrophtalmus).
VThe Caspian sand smelt (Atherina mochon) and the lagoon goby (knipowitschia panizzai) are species that were introduced accidentally in 1920.The dace is no longer present in the lake, and its disappearance paved the way the enormous increase in pumpkinseed sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus), a carnivorous fish that feeds on invertebrates.