Mylochromis mola "Chirwa Island"
Chirwa Island — CHEE-rwah EYE-land (approx.)
The fish
How this cichlid is built, and everything about how it lives, eats and breeds, is shared with the species — this page doesn't repeat it.
Read the full Mylochromis mola account →Specific to Chirwa Island
- Collection locality & coordinates
- Local coloration — best judged from the living-fish photo
- Kept as a single-provenance line, never crossed with other collection points
Care facts below are the species' — shared with Mylochromis mola.
The Chirwa Island population
Mylochromis mola "Chirwa Island" is the Chirwa Island population of Mylochromis mola, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the far northern part of the lake. It is the same species as Mylochromis mola, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Chirwa Island fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Mylochromis mola is a sand- and rock-associated Lake Malawi cichlid documented from a scatter of island localities in the central and southern lake, including Chizumulu Island in the north and the Maleri and Domwe island groups further south. Its species name, Latin for 'millstone,' echoes the meaning of its genus name and points directly to the fish's most distinctive functional trait: molar-like pharyngeal teeth, set deep in the throat, adapted for crushing hard-shelled prey such as snails.
Full Mylochromis mola account →