Jun 14, 2011 09:41 GMT  ·  By
This is Lake Malawi, the eight largest lake in the world, as seen from orbit
   This is Lake Malawi, the eight largest lake in the world, as seen from orbit

In a move to be commended, the government of Mozambique has recently declared Lake Malawi to be a protected area. The lake, one of the deepest and largest on the entire African Continent, houses several thousand species that can only be found here.

As such, it embodies the very definition of a biodiversity hotspot, similar to the more-famous Galapagos Islands. The latter are known to have an extreme diversity of species since naturalist Charles Darwin visited them for the first time, some two centuries ago.

Now, the east-African lake joins the club of protected areas. Lake Malawi is also known as Lake Niassa, or Lake Nyasa, alongside a variety of other spellings. It is located on the borders of Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

According to geographers, it is the third largest lake on the African continent, and the eight largest in the entire world. It is also the southernmost lake in the Great Rift Valley system, which is an area where experts say a new ocean is forming.

In addition to amazingly-diverse bird, mammal and reptile populations, the lake and its shores are also home to more than 1,000 species of a family of brightly-colored fish called cichlids. Biologists say that about 95 percent of these species can only be found in Lake Malawi.

“Globally, Lake Niassa is exceptional. Ninety-nine percent of the freshwater fish species that inhabit its waters only occur within this lake,” explains World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) conservation biologist Michele Thieme.

“Scientists estimate that up to 1,000 freshwater fish species will eventually be described; a total that would equal more than the number of fish species found in all of the United States and Canada,” the expert goes on to say, quoted by Our Amazing Planet.

In order to achieve this protection status, authorities in Mozambique worked with representatives of local communities, whom they persuaded to allow fish and other species to reproduce during their respective seasons.

In return, these populations were promised support, and also the permission to use local resources in a sustainable manner. The lake covers about 5,265 square miles (13,637 square kilometers) and can reach a depth of 2,300 feet (700 meters).