Lake Barombi Mbo or Barombi-Ma-Mbu is a lake in the Southwest Region of Cameroon

Cameroon

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...

. It is located in the Cameroon volcanic chain

Cameroon line

The Cameroon line is a chain of volcanoes.It includes islands in the Gulf of Guinea and mountains that extend along the border region of eastern Nigeria and western Cameroon, from Mount Cameroon on the Gulf of Guinea north and east towards Lake Chad....

, and is the largest volcanic lake in this region. It is one of the oldest radiocarbon-dated

Radiocarbon dating

Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...

 lakes in Africa. On old colonial maps the area was known as Elefanten Sea (Elephant Lake), but the elephants

African Forest Elephant

The African Forest Elephant is a forest dwelling elephant of the Congo Basin. Formerly considered either a synonym or a subspecies of the African Savanna Elephant , a 2010 study established that the two are distinct species...

 living in the area went extinct due to ivory trading

Ivory trade

The ivory trade is the commercial, often illegal trade in the ivory tusks of the hippopotamus, walrus, narwhal, mammoth, and most commonly, Asian and African elephants....

.

Until now, 15 species of fishes have been recorded from the lake. Among others, this includes a member of the Barbus aboinensis

Barbus aboinensis

Barbus aboinensis is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Barbus....

group, a member of the Fundulopanchax mirabilis group, and the endemic catfish Clarias maclareni

Clarias maclareni

Clarias maclareni is a critically endangered species of catfish in the Clariidae family. It is endemic to Lake Barombi Mbo in western Cameroon. It is threatened because of pollution and sedimentation due to human activities, and potentially also by large emissions of carbon dioxide from the lake's...

. Perhaps most noteworthy are the 11 species of cichlid

Cichlid

Cichlids are fishes from the family Cichlidae in the order Perciformes. Cichlids are members of a group known as the Labroidei along with the wrasses , damselfish , and surfperches . This family is both large and diverse. At least 1,300 species have been scientifically described, making it one of...

s that are endemic to the lake (Konia

Konia (fish)

Konia is a small genus of fishes in the Cichlidae family. The two species in this genus are both critically endangered and endemic to Lake Barombi-ma-Mbu in western Cameroon. They are threatened because of pollution and sedimentation due to human activities, and potentially also by large emissions...

 spp., Stomatepia

Stomatepia

Stomatepia is a genus of fishes in the cichlid family. Its three species are all endemic to Lake Barombi Mbo in western Cameroon. They are critically endangered because of pollution and sedimentation due to human activities, and potentially also by large emissions of carbon dioxide from the lake's...

 spp., Myaka myaka, Pungu maclareni, Sarotherodon caroli, S. linnellii

Sarotherodon linnellii

Sarotherodon linnellii, sometimes known as the blackfin tilapia or blackbelly tilapia, is a critically endangered species of fish in the cichlid family. It is endemic to Lake Barombi Mbo in western Cameroon...

, S. lohbergeri, and S. steinbachi), and likely the results of sympatric speciation

Sympatric speciation

Sympatric speciation is the process through which new species evolve from a single ancestral species while inhabiting the same geographic region. In evolutionary biology and biogeography, sympatric and sympatry are terms referring to organisms whose ranges overlap or are even identical, so that...

. All the endemics are seriously threatened by pollution

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...

 and sedimentation

Siltation

Siltation is the pollution of water by fine particulate terrestrial clastic material, with a particle size dominated by silt or clay. It refers both to the increased concentration of suspended sediments, and to the increased accumulation of fine sediments on bottoms where they are undesirable...

 from human activities, and potentially also by large emissions of carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...

 (CO₂) from the lake's bottom (compare Lake Nyos

Lake Nyos

Lake Nyos is a crater lake in the Northwest Region of Cameroon, located about northwest of Yaoundé. 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...

). Commercial fishing is forbidden in the lake. Additionally, the lake has an endemic species of sponge (Corvospongilla thysi), and an endemic species of shrimp

Shrimp

Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...

 (Caridina

Caridina

Caridina is a genus of freshwater atyid shrimps. They are widely found in tropical or subtropical water currents in Asia, Oceania and Africa. They are filter-feeders, collector-gatherers and omnivorous scavengers. They range from 0.9–9.8 mm to 1.2–7.4 mm Caridina is a genus of freshwater...

sp.).