Five New Species of Fish Discovered

Researchers have discovered five new species of wild fish endemic to Lake Malawi, which is located between Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique. The new fish are in the genus Metriaclima. They are provisionally named Metriaclima glaucos, Metriaclima xanthos, Metriaclima sciasma, Metriaclima nkhunguensis, and Metriaclima mossambicus. (To see copyrighted images of the fish, visit this web page.)

Metriaclima sciasma lives on the Tanzania coast, while the others all live on the Mozambique side. All live in rocky and sandy areas, and live at depths between three and twenty meters. Lake Malawi has so many cichlids, there are some websites devoted just to them.

Lake Malawi is one of the largest lakes in the world, and is part of the Rift Valley ecosystem, home to one of Earth’s greatest collection of wild animals. Some believe it contains more species of fish than any other lake.

Lake Malawi

(The fish pictured are not the actual new species, but examples of cichlids living in Lake Malawi.)

Image Credit: Public Domain
Lake Malawi Image Credit: World Traveller

Read more: Nature, Nature & Wildlife, Wildlife, Africa, lake malawi

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Brenda T.

10:48AM PST on Feb 16, 2012

Thanks for this news.

send a green star

june k.

5:00PM PST on Dec 27, 2011

amazing

Naomi M.

11:56AM PST on Dec 15, 2011

Fantastic news! Thanks for sharing

SuS NoMail Plez P.

11:51PM PDT on Aug 8, 2011

TY Jake.

Cesar V.

10:56AM PDT on Jun 2, 2011

interesting

Eternal G.

6:45PM PDT on May 2, 2011

Wow!

Lindsey W.

11:54AM PDT on Mar 25, 2011

wow that blue one looks like its covered in opals! it is so beautiful thank you for sharing this

Jason L.

4:22AM PDT on Mar 23, 2011

It's always great to hear when new species have been discovered. Let's hope that they are protected by conservation laws!

Darren G.

4:21PM PDT on Mar 17, 2011

Thank You for sharing:-)

Mikaila H.

8:38PM PDT on Mar 15, 2011

I love the Malawis. They're my favourite fish. It's nice to be reminded of how much more there is out there waiting to be discovered. Such beautiful fish too.