Ilala Gap
ee-LAH-lah GAP (approx.)
The atlas records 1 collection-point form from Ilala Gap.
13.9992°S 34.8486°E
Ilala Gap is a channel on Lake Malawi's Malawian shore, between Domwe Island and the mainland, about 2 km east of Cape Maclear.
Where it is
Ilala Gap is on the eastern shore of Lake Malawi, in its southern third (313 mi south of the lake's northern tip).
Nearest collection points: Cape Maclear 1.5 mi west · Domwe Island 1.7 mi north-west · Chembe Beach 1.8 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: Monkey Bay (south basin) (~8 km) — Visibility (Secchi) 12.5 m
Surface temperature here
Across Apr–Nov, monthly means run 75 °F to 82 °F — coolest in Jul. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (1458 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
Site photographs show Domwe Island on one side of the gap and the mainland on the other, entered from both the north and the south, with one view looking west through it toward Chembe Beach.
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.