The cichlid fishes of the Great Lakes of East Africa (Victoria, Tanganyika and Malawi) offer an unparalleled opportunity to study evolution in progress. In these lakes, speciation events can occur within a biologist's career. Sadly, so too can the extinction of hundreds of species. The Nile perch (Lates niloticus), an exotic predatory species, was introduced several times into Lake Victoria from the late 1950's to early 1960's ostensibly to enhance the local fishery. From 1979 to 1990, 80% of the 123 endemic cichlids (Haplochromis spp.) in the Mwanza Gulf of Lake Victoria (and more at other locations in the lake) were eaten out of existence by an explosion of the Nile perch population. Goldschmidt writes passionately about these fishes, and the sense of loss and despondency is palpable.

The Haplochromis cichlids of Lake Victoria are a monophyletic species flock, collectively known as "furu." They present an ecological and evolutionary problem in that each ecological niche is (was) shared by up to 130 species. Chapter 2 neatly describes the diverse ecological niches occupied by furu, including some odd occupations such as 24 species specialized in extracting developing larvae from the mouths of mouthbrooding furu. Using his own field data, Goldschmidt shows that the 12 feeding niches he describes are in fact finely divided spatially and temporally among competing species of furu.

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AJ  (AJ TOWN)