Lyamembe
lyah-MEHM-beh (approx.)
The atlas records 29 collection-point forms from Lyamembe, across 19 genera.
6.4571°S 29.9197°E
Lyamembe is a bay and village on Tanzania's Lake Tanganyika shore, bordering Mahale Mountains National Park at Mabilibili Bay Point to the north.
Where it is
Lyamembe is on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, in its central third (216 mi south of the lake's northern tip).
Nearest collection points: Mabilibili Bay 0.9 mi north-west · Sibwesa 2.1 mi east · Makola 3 mi south-east
Shore, third and distances are measured from the coordinates above against the lake’s mapped outline.
The water
Lake-wide measured chemistry of Lake Tanganyika — collection points share their lake's water; site-specific figures are shown only where the literature records them.
Nearest measured station: Kigoma (central, east shore) (~178 km) — Temperature 25.7 °C · pH 8.9 · Conductivity 654 µS/cm · Visibility (Secchi) 12.8 m
Surface temperature here
Across May–Oct, monthly means run 77 °F to 80 °F — coolest in Aug. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (1055 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
Because fishing and hunting are prohibited inside the adjacent national park, Lyamembe Bay is known for holding many crocodiles. A named offshore reef, Lyamembe Offshore Reef, lies just off the point.
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.