Aquarist Atlas
Collection point · Lake Tanganyika · Zambia

Mutondwe (Crocodile) Island

moo-TOHN-dweh croh-coh-DEE-leh EYE-land (approx.)

Also traded as “Crocodile Island”, “Mutondwe Island”

The atlas records 5 collection-point forms from Mutondwe (Crocodile) Island, across 4 genera.

8.7050°S 31.1188°E

Mutondwe (Crocodile) Island is an island off Zambia's Lake Tanganyika shore, under 1 km south-south-west of China.

Where it is

Mutondwe (Crocodile) Island is at the southern end of Lake Tanganyika, 372 mi south of the lake's northern tip.

Nearest collection points: Chikonde 0.6 mi south-east · Kasenga 1.8 mi south-east · Wonzye Point 1.8 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 Tanganyika — collection points share their lake's water; site-specific figures are shown only where the literature records them.

Temperature77–80.6 °F25–27 °C
pH8.6–9.2alkaline
Hardnesshard · 600–690 µS/cm

Nearest measured station: Mpulungu (south basin) (~6 km) — Temperature 24.5 °C · pH 8.9 · Conductivity 662 µS/cm · Visibility (Secchi) 11.9 m

Surface temperature here

Across Mar–Nov, monthly means run 76 °F to 82 °F — coolest in Jul. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (1847 clear days). The rainy-season months are usually too cloudy to measure and are left blank.

74°77°80°83°Jan: too few clear satellite days (2)–JFeb: too few clear satellite days (5)–FMar: 82 °F mean (81 °F–83 °F), 10 clear satellite daysMApr: 81 °F mean (79 °F–82 °F), 34 clear satellite daysAMay: 79 °F mean (77 °F–81 °F), 176 clear satellite daysMJun: 77 °F mean (76 °F–79 °F), 335 clear satellite daysJJul: 76 °F mean (75 °F–77 °F), 396 clear satellite daysJAug: 76 °F mean (75 °F–78 °F), 401 clear satellite daysASep: 78 °F mean (76 °F–80 °F), 298 clear satellite daysSOct: 80 °F mean (78 °F–82 °F), 144 clear satellite daysONov: 82 °F mean (80 °F–82 °F), 38 clear satellite daysNDec: too few clear satellite days (8)–D
Surface temperature by month near Mutondwe (Crocodile) Island — dot = mean, bar = typical range (10th–90th percentile), “–” = too cloudy to measure.

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.

Sources
  1. tanganyika.si — Lake Tanganyika interactive locations map: Mutondwe (Crocodile) Island

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.

Altolamprologus (1)

Julidochromis (1)

Neolamprologus (2)

Xenotilapia (1)

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