Akmena River

The Akmena, also called the Danė (Dangė, Danija), is a river in western Lithuania. It rises near the village of Mažieji Žalimai, 6 km southwest of Salantai, flows through Kretinga District, the town of Kretinga and Klaipėda District, and enters the Curonian Lagoon in Klaipėda.

The river has two names. From its source to Kretinga (the Bajorai area) it is called the Akmena, and downstream the Danė. The name Akmena probably comes from the many boulders in the middle course, where the river runs through an erosion valley with stony rapids. The origin of the name Danė/Dangė is not settled. Some linguists link Dangė to the word danga ("a muddy, marshy place").

Sources give different lengths, from 62 to 67.7 km. The catchment area is 580–595 km². The average channel width in the upper and middle course is 5–18 m, and up to 40 m in the lower course. The mean discharge at the mouth is about 7 m³/s. The channel is regulated in the upper reaches. In Kretinga the river is dammed into ponds, including the Bajorai Pond. Below Kretinga it flows through a wide old valley. Near the mouth, large vessels can navigate the lower course.

The main left-bank tributaries are the Vaineikupis, Šukupis, Skroblupis, Burkštinas, Jaurykla, Babrūnė and Eketė. The main right-bank tributaries are the Šlaveita and Tenžė.