Taiwanee Reef, Lake Malawi, Mozambique

Environment

Environment

Untouched

Surrounding area

Taiwanee Reef in the waters of Mozambique, Lake Malawi, is located about 7,5km north of Chizumulu Island, and therefore far from the shores that erode the soil.

Lake Nyassa, as the local call it, has very alkaline, hard, and oxygenated waters.

To get an idea of the movement and oxygenation of the water, sometimes, due to the weather, you can see waves similar to those of the sea, hitting violently against the rocks.

A quarter of the waters of Lake Malawi belong to Mozambique, although the main islands of the lake are Likoma and Chizumulu, Malawi`s territory.

Likoma is surrounded by Malawian waters and, with and area of 18km², is the largest and most touristic. It is accessible by plane and is home to about 9000 people.

Chizumulu, the closest to Taiwanee Reef, is only accessible by boat from the Port of Nkhata Bay. It is the least populated with about 4000 people, who are engaged in fishing and agriculture. The island contrasts with the tourism, resort and leisure activities of Likoma Island.

Underwater landscape

Taiwanee Reef is large and extensible, with very large rocks, most of them larger than 30 feet in diameter, and there are practically no smaller rocks.

The water is very clean and you can see the bottom down to about 3m deep.

The rocks are dark, with reddish-brown algae attached, which with the clear water, nutrients from fish waste and the strenght of the sun, are constantly growing, providing food for the Mbunas that inhabit in.

This location contains the most isolated fish community in the lake, making it a very interesting area for cichlid evolutionary studies, probably due to lack of contact with neighbouring populations.

The Duch Ichthyologist Ad Konings has dived at least 9 times in this site, and to give an example he has never sighted a Labidochromis on Taiwanee Reef.

This is very useful to understand that, in my opinion, “Lake Malawi biotope” is not a correct term.

Because within the lake the amount of rocks can vary, depending on whether it is and islet, a bay, a reef, or whether we are trying to recreate the margins of the coast.

The strenght of the current may vary of there may by Vallisneria spiralis plants that grow in sandy areas and form real meadows in areas like Chinteche Inn, in the Nkhata Bay District. Potamogeton sp. which is a floating slow water plant, and even the invasive the Eichornia crassipes, which invades southern areas of the lake, such as Cape McClear.

There may be windblown logs from Baobab trees (Adansonia digitata) and Msasa (Brachystegia spiciformis) that sink into the lake water.

The natural elements change depending on whether the location is closer or less close to the shore. They also change according to the seasons.

Fishlist:

• Chindongo saulosi (Cichlidae)
  
• Maylandia zebra (Cichlidae)
  
• Labeotropheus trewavasae (Cichlidae)
  
• Copadichromis quadrimaculatus (Cichlidae)
• Copadichromis sp. Taiwan Yellow (Cichlidae)
  
• Copadichromis borleyi (Cichlidae)
  
• Copadichromis borleyi (Cichlidae)
  
• Copadichromis jacksoni (Cichlidae)
• Rhamphochromis sp. (Cichlidae)
  
• Otopharynx ovatus (Cichlidae)

Threats to ecology

Logically, the lake is not unaware to one of the world`s current major problems:

“The lake’s outflows to the Shire River are vital to the economy, as water resources support hydropower, irrigation and biodiversity downstream.

Concerns about the future impact of climate change on the Lake Malawi due to the recent decline in lake levels and the general drying up trend.

The climate in the Lake District is undergoing changes and temperatures are expected to rise across the country”, (Hmong.es, 2011).

Add climate change to deforestation in the lake, and its water are in rapid decline.

This puts its flora species at risk of extinction, according to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Management. And among this affected biodiversity are cichlids.

On the other hand, fishing, as long as it is controlled and for the consumption of the people living there, will not be a problem for the cichlids as a whole. Uncontrolled fishing could be a problem.

Riparian zone

Trees near the aquatic habitat

None -

Bibliography

• Malawi cichlids in their natural habitat 4th edition by Ad Konings
  ISBN 978-1-932892-05-5
  

Sitography

Comment by the expert