Salt and water balance in the Aral Sea are described together with the endemic fauna and flora which were mainly of freshwater origin. During the last thirty years the fauna and flora have undergone dramatic changes due partly to a great increase in salinity as the result of water abstraction from the inflowing rivers and partly as the result of the deliberate and accidental introduction of a wide variety of marine invertebrates and fishes. The increased salinity has eliminated most the species of freshwater origin while many of endemic saline species have been lost as the result of competition with the marine ones. Changes in productivity are described and future prospects for the sea are discussed.