To begin our spring issue, we offer a review by first-time
author Eric Genevelle of variation in Ophthalmotilapia ventralis.
These “dancing jewels” of Lake Tanganyika have captivated the hobby for
years; expanded explorations in the lake in recent times have revealed
the presence of impressive variability in male breeding dress in this popular
featherfin, which, of course, translates to heightened desirability to
hobbyists. Get out that wish list!
Our second feature of length also comes from new contributors,
this time a team of biologists who have spent many years studying the cichlids
of Nicaragua. Ken McKaye, Jay Stauffer and Jeffrey McCrary evaluate evidence
for sympatric speciation in the Midas cichlid species complex of Lake Nicaragua.
Why are we not surprised that cichlids might be doing still something else
— forming new species without geographic isolation — that almost no other
group of vertebrates has ever been observed to do? Draw your own conclusions
based on this informative presentation.
Beyond this, we present a “triad” of reports, introducing
new information on little-known cichlids from around the world. William
Cain relates his experiences breeding Chuco sp. “Guabo,” a cichlasomine
collected in the early 90s in Panama by Patrick de Rham and Jean-Claude
Nourissat; Justyn Miller does the same for a virtually-unknown haplochromine
— ‘Haplochromis’ sp. “Pallisa Black Slick” — from a satellite lake
north of Lake Victoria in Uganda; and Ad Konings tells us about observations
in the wild on breeding behavior in Stigmatochromis pleurospilus
from Lake Malawi. Ron Coleman’s Cichlids and Science essay dares
to broach the topic of “Bad Cichlids”; boy, does he have some “splaining”
to do! And, to conclude, there’s always room for What’s New.
George Barlow is a name that often comes up in conversations about cichlids.
He and his students (Paul Loiselle, Ron Coleman, and Ken McKaye, to name
only a few) have not only made many significant contributions to the study
of cichlids, they form perhaps the most important “bridge” between the
world of academia and the cichlid hobby, as reflected by their regular
contributions to Cichlid News and other hobby-related publications.
Late last year, as many of you already know, Dr. Barlow further solidified
this bond by authoring The Cichlid Fishes: Nature’s Grand Experiment
in Evolution (Perseus Publishing, ISBN: 0-7382-0376-9). In the book
Dr. Barlow reviews information accumulated over the past 50 years on the
behavioral ecology of cichlids, accumulating all the “stories” that have
fascinated us for so long and presenting them in a style we can all appreciate
and enjoy. Give it a look; I’m sure you’ll glean hours of reading pleasure.
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