Otter Island
OT-ter EYE-land (approx.)
The atlas records 14 collection-point forms from Otter Island, across 8 genera.
14.0408°S 34.8214°E
Otter Island is an island off Lake Malawi's Malawian shore, under 1 km south-west of Otter Point.
Where it is
Otter Island is on the eastern shore of Lake Malawi, in its southern third (316 mi south of the lake's northern tip).
Nearest collection points: Otter Point 0.2 mi north-east · Mitande Reef (Rocks) 1.1 mi north · Thumbi West Island 1.6 mi north
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) (~11 km) — Visibility (Secchi) 12.5 m
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 (1452 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 show the island beside Otter Point, and the view south from the island's shore.
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.