Mumbo Island
MOOM-boh EYE-land (approx.)
The atlas records 34 collection-point forms from Mumbo Island, across 18 genera.
13.9895°S 34.7553°E
Mumbo Island lies off Cape Maclear on Lake Malawi's south-western shore, just north of Jumbo Island.
Where it is
Mumbo Island is in open water about 6.2 mi off the western shore, in the southern third of Lake Malawi (312 mi south of the lake's northern tip).
Nearest collection points: Jumbo Island 0.2 mi south · Three Peaks Reef 2.5 mi north-east · Zimbawe Rock 3.5 mi north-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) (~18 km) — Visibility (Secchi) 12.5 m
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 (1447 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
A 1971 photograph documents an unauthorised fishing village that had been established on the island. Jumbo Island and its offshore rocks, including Chimney Rocks (also called Tooth Rock), lie just to the south.
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.