COURLAND LAGOON

German Kurisches Haff, Lithuanian Kuriu Marios, Russian Kursky Zaliv gulf of the Baltic Sea at the mouth of the Neman River, in Lithuania and Russia. The lagoon, with an area of 625 square miles (1,619 square km), is separated from the Baltic Sea by a narrow, dune-covered sandspit (English: Courland Spit; Russian: Kurskaya Kosa), 60 miles (97 km) long and 12 miles (1.53 km) wide. A road along the spit connects resort and fishing villages. At its north end, the lagoon is connected to the Baltic Sea by a navigable strait, site of the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda. The east coast of the Courland Lagoon is low, wooded marshland, part of which forms the Neman River delta. To the south lies the Samland Peninsula, formerly part of East Prussia.