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Parc national du lac Malawi

NHK World Heritage 100 Series (en anglais)

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Texte narratif (en anglais)

This is Lake Malawi in East Africa. It is almost as large as Belgium. The lakeside is littered with boulders that have rolled down from the steep surrounding mountains. The fish in the shadow of these rocks breed their young in a very unusual way.

This fish is known as "Cichlidae", a dominant species. During the breeding season, this male Cichlidae removes sand from the seabed with his mouth. He is making a breeding bed for a female. A female Cichlidae enters his nest. Her colour is very subdued compared to the vivid male appearance. The female Cichlidae spawns her eggs and puts them into her mouth right away. She does not actually eat these eggs but hatches and raises them inside her mouth.

An attack...

The mother’s mouth seems to be the safest place to be.

This is a large cat-fish locally known as "Kampango". They are also raising fry in their nest within the rocks. The baby fishes are now about 2 centimetres long and protected by their parents. A Cichlidae is swimming around them, waiting for a chance to prey on the baby Kampangos.

A Cichlidae mother is letting her babies out of her mouth. It is amazing how they grew up inside her. But this world is full of danger. Parents can never rest until their young finally grow up.

Back to the Kampango nest, a female Cichlidae is being chased away several times but keeps coming back to the nest. Slowly and carefully, she is releasing her babies from her mouth. Now the babies swim away from their parents towards the Kampango parents. Here their babies are safe from other Cichlidae. Kampango can also benefit from this. Baby Cichlidae fry divert attention from the Kampango babies. The Cichlidae parents are busily chasing enemies away from the mouth of the nest.

Here the two species can co-exist in harmony. Unique ways of rearing and protecting their young have been created in a world where "the strong prey on the weak".