Mbenji Island
m-BEHN-jee EYE-land (approx.)
The atlas records 47 collection-point forms from Mbenji Island, across 25 genera.
13.4357°S 34.4918°E
Mbenji Island is a small rocky island in open water off Lake Malawi's western shore, part of a cluster with Kampambe, Ababi and Penga Penga Islands, and a well-known source of endemic Mbenji-labelled mbuna.
Where it is
Mbenji Island is in open water about 8.1 mi off the western shore, in the southern third of Lake Malawi (274 mi south of the lake's northern tip).
Nearest collection points: Ababi Island 0.4 mi north-east · Penga Penga Island 0.6 mi north-east · Fuawe Island 1.2 mi 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) (~36 km) — Conductivity 235 µS/cm
This site
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 (1324 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
Depending on the lake's water level, a narrow strip of land between Kampambe and Mbenji either connects the two islands or separates them.
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.