Lake Mariout (also spelled Maryut or Mariut) is a salt lake of about 250 square km in northern Egypt. It is separated from the Mediterranean Sea by the narrow isthmus on which the city of Alexandria was built. The lake shore is home to fisheries and saltworks . Some of the marshy areas around the lake have been reclaimed for new building as the city grows.
The name derives from Mareotis, the name of the lake in ancient times.
