Aral, ar'al, a vast inland sea of Asia, situated in Russian Turkestan. It is a shallow body of salt water with an area of 35,000 square miles. It is fourteen times as large as Great Salt Lake. The Aral receives several tributaries, the principal being the Oxus, but it has no outlet, and owing to the excessive evaporation of the hot country in which it lies, it is shrinking in size. At one time it may have been an arm of the Caspian Sea, now 200 miles distant. Its surface is 160 feet above the ocean and 245 feet above the Caspian. Its waters are full of fish. The shores are for the most part salty wastes. Being without harbors and subject to violent storms, the Aral is not safe for navigation. A few fishing craft and Russian steamships venture on its waters.