Chilucha Reef
chee-LOO-chah REEF (approx.)
The atlas records 12 collection-point forms from Chilucha Reef, across 9 genera.
12.7050°S 34.7906°E
Chilucha Reef is a reef off Lake Malawi's Mozambican shore, under 1 km south-east of Tchulutcha Rock.
Where it is
Chilucha Reef is on the eastern shore of Lake Malawi, in its central third (223 mi south of the lake's northern tip).
Nearest collection points: Metangula 1.4 mi north-east · Chuanga 4.7 mi north · Nkolongwe 5.8 mi south
Shore, third and distances are measured from the coordinates above against the lake’s mapped outline.
The water
Lake-wide measured chemistry of Lake Malawi — collection points share their lake's water; site-specific figures are shown only where the literature records them.
Nearest measured station: Salima (south-east shore) (~124 km) — Conductivity 235 µS/cm
Surface temperature here
Across Apr–Nov, monthly means run 76 °F to 81 °F — coolest in Aug. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (1216 clear days). The rainy-season months are usually too cloudy to measure and are left blank.
Temperature: ESA Climate Change Initiative, Lakes_cci v3.0 (Asfour et al. 2026; doi:10.5285/a56dba09df8a42ec9fba8b8c7a5e1f69). Chemistry on this page remains the lake's own.
The site
A caption credited to Ad Konings notes that Metangula is visible from atop the reef.
Each entry below is the population of that species recorded here — the form aquarists keep and breed as a distinct, provenance-labelled line. Crossing forms from different collection points is considered hybridisation in the hobby.