Article © Julian Dignall, uploaded January 01, 2002.

Almost entirely a cichlid book, this large publication may seem a strange choice for review here. The title does however state that the book covers all the fishes of lake Malawi, and it is true to it's word.

The book begins with some excellent maps and habitat information on the lake itself. It then moves into "cichlidland" for most of the book. Given the number of species and variants of cichlids in the lake, this is a fair representation. So don't expect anymore than a handful of pages (maybe 2% of the book at best) to be devoted to catfishes. The species found in the lake belonging to the genera Bagrus, Bathyclarias, Clarias, Chiloglanis and Synodontis are all documented some with accompanying pictures. There are also pictures of Leptoglanis sp. apparently a shell dwelling catfish.

Realistically this expensive book can't be recommended purely for it's catfish information, although an interesting read if you can get a loan of it. This beautiful book is for lake cichlid fans only, but then I've been known to keep a few cichlids here and there.

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