Lake Barombi Koto, also known as Lake Barombi Kotto or Lake Barombi-ba-Kotto, is a small lake in the volcanic chain in the Southwest Region of

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. It is a

volcanic lake A volcanogenic lake is a lake formed as a result of volcanic activity. They are generally a body of water inside an inactive volcanic crater (crater lakes) but can also be large volumes of molten lava within an active volcanic crater (lava lakes) ...

with a diameter of about . There is a small island in the middle, which is densely inhabited by the Barombi, a tribe of fishers. The Tung Nsuia and Tung Nsuria streams, each about wide and deep near their mouth, are the only inflows into the lake, and they dry out in dry season.

Biology

Lake Barombi Koto often appears green-brown because it is rich in

phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. Ph ...

. Invertebrates, turtles and the aquatic frog ''

Xenopus tropicalis The western clawed frog (''Xenopus tropicalis'') is a species of frog in the family Pipidae, also known as tropical clawed frog. It is the only species in the genus ''Xenopus'' to have a diploid genome. Its genome has been sequenced, making it a ...

'' are common in the lake, which is also an important sanctuary for birds. Seven fish species are known from the lake, including '' Enteromius callipterus'' and a ''Clarias'' catfish, while the remaining all are cichlids: '' Coptodon kottae'', '' Chromidotilapia guentheri'', ''

Hemichromis fasciatus ''Hemichromis fasciatus'', also called the banded jewelfish and five-spot cichlid, is a species of fish in the cichlid family. It is distributed throughout West Africa. It can also be found in the Nile Basin, Lake Chad, and the upper Zambezi. It ...

'', '' Pelmatolapia mariae'' and ''

Sarotherodon galilaeus ''Sarotherodon'' is a genus of oreochromine cichlids that are native to the northern half of Africa (south as far as the Congo River basin), with a single species, ''S. galilaeus'', also ranging into the Levant. A couple of species from this g ...

''. Of these, ''C. guentheri'' is represented by the

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

subspecies ''loennbergi'', while ''C. kottae'' is entirely endemic to this lake and the smaller Lake Mboandong. A review in 2008 was unable to confirm the distinction of the subspecies ''loennbergi'' compared to ''C. guentheri'' elsewhere, but the ''H. fasciatus'' in Barombi Koto and Lake Mboandong are unusually small and might be an endemic

undescribed species In taxonomy, an undescribed taxon is a taxon (for example, a species) that has been discovered, but not yet formally described and named. The various Nomenclature Codes specify the requirements for a new taxon to be validly described and named. U ...

. The endemics are threatened by

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

and

sedimentation Sedimentation is the deposition of sediments. It takes place when particles in suspension settle out of the fluid in which they are entrained and come to rest against a barrier. This is due to their motion through the fluid in response to the ...

from human activities, and "turning" of the lake's water because of

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

of the surroundings (this may allow more wind, and the lake is

stratified Stratification may refer to: Mathematics * Stratification (mathematics), any consistent assignment of numbers to predicate symbols * Data stratification in statistics Earth sciences * Stable and unstable stratification * Stratification, or st ...

with oxygen-poor lower levels). They are potentially also threatened by large emissions of

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

from the lake's bottom (compare

Lake Nyos Lake Nyos ( ) is a crater lake in the Region of Cameroon, located about northwest of Yaoundé, the capital. Nyos is a deep lake high on the flank of an inactive volcano in the Oku volcanic plain along the Cameroon line of volcanic activity ...

), although Barombi Koto is too shallow to contain very high amounts of this gas. The nothobranchiids '' Aphyosemion bivittatum'', '' Epiplatys sexfasciatus'' and '' Fundulopanchax oeseri'', the

poeciliid The Poeciliidae are a family of freshwater fishes of the order Cyprinodontiformes, the tooth-carps, and include well-known live-bearing aquarium fish, such as the guppy, molly, platy, and swordtail. The original distribution of the family was t ...

Procatopus similis ''Procatopus'' is a genus of poeciliid fishes native to tropical freshwater habitats in Cameroon and Nigeria. Species There are currently three recognized species in this genus: * ''Procatopus aberrans'' C. G. E. Ahl, 1927 (Bluegreen lampeye) * ...

'', and ''Barbus callipterus'' are found in the Tung Nsuia and Tung Nsuria streams. ''

Bulinus ''Bulinus'' is a genus of small tropical freshwater snails, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Bulinidae, the ramshorn snails and their allies. MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Bulinus O. F. Müller, 1781. Accessed through: Worl ...

'' snails (including the near-endemic '' B. camerunensis'') infested with ''

Schistosoma ''Schistosoma'' is a genus of trematodes, commonly known as blood flukes. They are parasitic flatworms responsible for a highly significant group of infections in humans termed '' schistosomiasis'', which is considered by the World Health Organ ...

'', which causes the disease

bilharzia Schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, bilharzia, and Katayama fever, is a disease caused by parasitic flatworms called schistosomes. The urinary tract or the intestines may be infected. Symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, bloody ...

in humans, are present in the lake.Atemnkeng, A. F., K. J. N. Ndamukong, N. N. Ntonifor, and J. Mbuh (2006).
Life cycle, population dynamics and schistosome infection in Bulinus spp. from a crater lake in the South West Province of Cameroon.
' Journal of the Cameroon Academy of Science 6(2): 99–105

Lake Mboandong

About south of Lake Barombi Koto is the even smaller Lake Mboandong, another shallow crater lake with a diameter of about . There is no inflow and the only outflow is a small stream during the wet season. Lake Mboandong is less rich in phytoplankton and has less fish species, but all are species shared with Lake Barombi Koto and its inflowing streams: ''Aphyosemion bivittatum'', ''Fundulopanchax oeseri'', ''Coptodon kottae'', ''Hemichromis fasciatus'' and ''Sarotherodon galilaeus''. Members of the Barombi tribe that live at Lake Barombi Koto sometimes visit Lake Mboandong to fish.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barombi Koto Volcanic crater lakes Lakes of Cameroon

Biology

Lake Mboandong

See also

References