BRAINCAKECichlid Fish
Cichlids are a family of freshwater fish found mainly in Africa and Central and South America. The cichlids of the African Great Lakes are one of the most striking examples of adaptive radiation in the world.
The three largest lakes, Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika, each contain hundreds of cichlid species, and almost all of them are endemic to their own lake. In each lake, the species evolved from only a few ancestral species. Lake Victoria is thought to have dried out almost completely about 15,000 years ago, yet it now contains around 500 cichlid species, making this one of the fastest known bursts of speciation in vertebrates.
Sign in free to see the rest of this lesson, the R.E.C.I.P.E. recall steps and the quiz
BrainCake is free. Make an account in seconds and pick up where this page stops.
Key terms in this lesson
- adaptive radiation
- The rapid evolution of many new species from a single common ancestor, each adapted to a different niche.
- niche
- The role of a species within its habitat, including the resources it uses and the conditions it needs.
More in Natural Selection
- Endemic Species
- Desert Pupfish
- Adaptive Radiation
- Sympatric Speciation
- Howea Palm Tree
- Fruit Fly Rhagoletis pomonella
- Cichlid Speciation
- Cichlids Under Threat
All 29 lessons in Natural Selection · All Edexcel AS-level Biology topics