| During the process of assembling an issue of Cichlid News, the
last thing I usually do is write this editorial. However, on this occasion
I’m somewhat distracted, as the looming approach of Hurricane Frances reminds
us here in South Florida of our experiences twelve years ago with Hurricane
Andrew. In only our first year of publication in 1992, our little magazine
could have been knocked out by Andrew before we had barely gotten started;
but we were lucky. Though our office building was damaged beyond repair,
we pulled through, and the fact that you’re reading this now must mean
that the same is true for Frances.
Distractions notwithstanding, we have an excellent issue for you to
close out the year. The theme might be “new horizons” in the cichlid world,
as this group of authors reflects the fact that the boundaries of the cichlid
universe are far from established. However one approaches the subject —
taxonomically, temporally, or spatially — there are new frontiers yet to
explore. Martin Geerts illustrates the systematic angle with a review of
the controversy over how to view “variation” in populaltions of peacock
cichlids (genus Aulonocara) from Lake Malawi. What’s most important
in recognizing species boundaries? Morphological variation? Differences
in male color patterns? What type of differences translate to real isolation
with respect to breeding behavior? Clearly a topic that should foster much
research and debate in the future. Two reports from Lake Tanganyika uncover
totally different dimensions to the cichlid world. Ad Konings touches on
the faunal turnover that occurs at night in his account of Trematocara
species
from Zambia; the difference, one might say, is as clear as night and day.
And analogously, first-time contributors Roger Bills and Bob Schelly, using
a variety of collecting techniques common to systematics (but perhaps not
so familiar to cichlid hobbyists), begin to reveal the composition of the
cichlid world that occurs “at depth” in the lake. Not to be outdone, Willem
Heijns hits the road in Nicaragua to scour the backwaters of poorly-known
drainages for new cichlids. And finally, Paul Loiselle illustrates how
we as hobbyists (in conjunction with scientific programs) can contribute
to maintaining the diversity of our cichlid world. Indeed, he discusses
the biology of two species of Lake Victorian haplochromines that would
probably be totally extinct in the wild if not for such efforts.
So that’s it for this time; now if Frances would just make a hard right
and head north . . .
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