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SpeciesScientists Discover Mysterious New Fish in the Red Sea – and Have Never Seen It AgainOceanEye to eye with Britain's hidden sharks at SharkAdemy - OceanographicRiversIn October, biologists surveying a New York harbor for invasive fish pulled up a bright yellow one. It wasn't an invasive species at allOceanShedd Aquarium Sends Shark Eggs to Bolster Wild PopulationsSpeciesA rare fish has been found in Lake Ontario, North America, whose entire body is golden. It is a nati..OceanThe Great Sea Reef Is Fiji’s Wildest Dive, and a New Frontier for ConservationOceanEckerd College professor contributes to designating Biscayne Bay an Important Shark and Ray AreaSpeciesRio Verde Grande Survey Identifies Fifty-Three Fish Species Facing Flow ReductionsFisheriesAdams River Salmon Run in Thompson-NicolaIndiaHilsa production dropped 26% in five years, fisheries minister tells parliamentSpeciesScientists Discover Mysterious New Fish in the Red Sea – and Have Never Seen It AgainOceanEye to eye with Britain's hidden sharks at SharkAdemy - OceanographicRiversIn October, biologists surveying a New York harbor for invasive fish pulled up a bright yellow one. It wasn't an invasive species at allOceanShedd Aquarium Sends Shark Eggs to Bolster Wild PopulationsSpeciesA rare fish has been found in Lake Ontario, North America, whose entire body is golden. It is a nati..OceanThe Great Sea Reef Is Fiji’s Wildest Dive, and a New Frontier for ConservationOceanEckerd College professor contributes to designating Biscayne Bay an Important Shark and Ray AreaSpeciesRio Verde Grande Survey Identifies Fifty-Three Fish Species Facing Flow ReductionsFisheriesAdams River Salmon Run in Thompson-NicolaIndiaHilsa production dropped 26% in five years, fisheries minister tells parliament
EveryFish

River or lake, Malawi

Lake Malawi

The East African Rift lake with more fish species than any other lake, mostly cichlids found nowhere else.

Lake Malawi, called Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is a deep Rift Valley lake about 580 km long. It is thought to hold more fish species than any other lake on Earth, with estimates of 700 to over 1,000 cichlids, almost all found only there. Lake Malawi National Park, at Cape Maclear, became the first national park set up to protect freshwater fish, and a World Heritage Site in 1984.

Mbuna and utaka

The best known cichlids are the mbuna, small, brightly coloured rock-dwellers that scrape algae from the rocks, each species often confined to a few reefs. The electric yellow cichlid and the zebra mbuna are popular in home aquariums worldwide. Utaka feed on plankton in open water. Many species are mouthbrooders: the female carries the eggs and young in her mouth.

Feeding the lakeshore

Fish supply most of the animal protein eaten by people along the shore. Chambo, a group of tilapias, is the favourite food fish, and usipa, a small sardine-like fish, is dried on racks in huge quantities. Chambo catches have fallen sharply from overfishing, and fishers now take more usipa. The lake's large catfish, the kampango, guards its young in nests on the lake floor.

Still to be written: Zebra mbuna, Labidochromis caeruleus, Oreochromis karongae, Lake Malawi sardine, Kampango.

The weekly digest

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