Monkey Bay
MUNK-ee BAY (approx.)
The atlas records 16 collection-point forms from Monkey Bay, across 5 genera.
14.0673°S 34.9208°E
Monkey Bay is a bay on Lake Malawi's Malawian shore, under 1 km south-west of Thumbi East Island, with a long history as a hub for lake research and transport.
Where it is
Monkey Bay is on the western shore of Lake Malawi, in its southern third (318 mi south of the lake's northern tip).
Nearest collection points: Thumbi East Island 0.5 mi north-east · Harbour Island 0.6 mi east · Songwe Hill 1.6 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 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) (~5 km) — Visibility (Secchi) 12.5 m
Surface temperature here
Across Apr–Nov, monthly means run 74 °F to 81 °F — coolest in Jul. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (1464 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 from 1971 and 1980 document Monkey Bay's mixed uses: the Malawi Railways dockyard, the Fisheries Research Unit, and a landing strip have stood on the bay, the steamers Chauncy Maples and Ilala have been seen in the distance beyond a swampy stretch of its shore, and the Lake Malawi Trawling Survey's launch Ethelwynn Trewavas was photographed heading out of the bay on a day cruise in 1971.
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.