Machili Island
mah-CHEE-lee EYE-land (approx.)
The atlas records 12 collection-point forms from Machili Island, across 9 genera.
12.0156°S 34.6088°E
Machili Island is an island off the Malawian shore, under 1 km north-east of Chizumulu Reef.
Where it is
Machili Island is in open water about 12 mi off the eastern shore, in the central third of Lake Malawi (176 mi south of the lake's northern tip).
Nearest collection points: Mkanila Bay 0.7 mi north-east · Chizumulu Island 1.2 mi south-east · Linganjala Reef 1.3 mi north-west
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) (~194 km) — Conductivity 235 µS/cm
This site
Surface temperature here
Across Apr–Nov, monthly means run 76 °F to 82 °F — coolest in Aug. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (1075 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 rocks off the island's southern end, with Chizumulu Island visible in the background.
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.