Thumbi East Island
TOOM-bee EEST EYE-land (approx.)
The atlas records 12 collection-point forms from Thumbi East Island, across 10 genera.
14.0622°S 34.9253°E
Thumbi East Island is an island off the Malawian shore, under 1 km north-east of Monkey Bay.
Where it is
Thumbi East Island is on the western shore of Lake Malawi, in its southern third (317 mi south of the lake's northern tip).
Nearest collection points: Monkey Bay 0.5 mi south-west · Harbour Island 0.6 mi south-east · Tsano Rock 1.8 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.
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 (1468 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 near Monkey Bay, including a 1971 view from David Eccles's garden at Monkey Bay in which Thumbi East Island appears at left with the far shore of the south-east arm visible beyond it.
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.