Shikotan (色丹島) (Shikotan in Japanese, Шикотан in Russian), one of the bigger islands of the Kuril Islands, located in the Sakhalin Oblast of Russia. Although this island is a part of Russia, Japan maintains a claim to it along with the other three islands (see Kuril Island conflict).
The shores of the island are very indented and covered with oceanic meadows. The highest altitude is 412 m. The island is formed with the volcanic rock and sandstone of Upper Cretaceous and Cenozoic periods.
Vegetation mostly consists of Sakhalin fir, larch, deciduous trees, bamboo underbrush, juniper brushwood.
Settlements - Malokurilskoye and Krabozavodskoye.
Primary economic activity is fishery and sea hunting .
