Maison Reef
mah-EE-sohn REEF (approx.)
The atlas records 12 collection-point forms from Maison Reef, across 8 genera.
10.4772°S 34.2953°E
Maison Reef is a reef off Lake Malawi's Malawian shore, under 1 km east-south-east of Nkafwenge Reef.
Where it is
Maison Reef is in open water about 2.5 mi off the western shore, in the northern third of Lake Malawi (69 mi south of the lake's northern tip).
Nearest collection points: Kaphaso Reef 0.8 mi north-west · Makankha Rocks 1.3 mi north-west · Chirwa Island 1.6 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) (~364 km) — Conductivity 235 µS/cm
Surface temperature here
Across May–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 (898 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.
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.