Collection point · Lake Malawi · Malawi

Nakantenga Island

nah-kahn-TEHN-gah EYE-land (approx.)

The atlas records 40 collection-point forms from Nakantenga Island, across 19 genera.

13.9174°S 34.6430°E

Nakantenga Island is one of the Maleri Islands in Lake Malawi's south-western arm, about 2.7 km south-east of Maleri Island itself, with Nankoma Island completing the group.

Where it is

Nakantenga Island is in open water about 4.3 mi off the western shore, in the southern third of Lake Malawi (307 mi south of the lake's northern tip).

Nearest collection points: Mkondiwa Reef 0.3 mi south · Maleri Island 1.7 mi north-west · Nankoma Island 2.9 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.

Temperature75.2–84.2 °F24–29 °C

pH8.2–8.6alkaline

Hardnessmoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppm

Conductivity≈250–260 µS/cmmeasured range

Nearest measured station: Monkey Bay (south basin) (~32 km) — Visibility (Secchi) 12.5 m

This site

Habitatrockysmall island in the Maleri group, south-western arm

Surface temperature here

Across Apr–Nov, monthly means run 74 °F to 82 °F — coolest in Jul. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (1435 clear days). The rainy-season months are usually too cloudy to measure and are left blank.

Surface temperature by month near Nakantenga 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.

The site

Mkondiwa Reef — also called Kambiri Reef, New Reef or Nakantenga Reef — lies just off its northern shore.

Sources

malawi.si — Nakantenga Island, Lake Malawi, Malawi: location page and photo gallery (captions by Blue Zebra Island Lodge, PJM Photography, Larry Johnson, Pete Barnes)

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.