Lake Malawi Cichlids
at the Fort Worth Zoo Aquarium
(Click on picture for a larger image)


Note the golden egg-spots on the anal fin of the male

Most of the fish you will see in the Aquarium are teleosts, including several species of cichlids. The Lake Malawi cichlids are a particularly interesting group, both because of their bright beautiful colors and because of their variety. The cichlids pictured here are members of a group of fish that live and breed in rock piles -- Mbuna. African cichlids have astonishing diversification -- genetic evidence suggests that over 500 species of cichlids in Lake Malawi have emerged in the last 2 million years. This rapid evolutionary change has been attributed both to the isolating effect of living in rockpiles and to changes associated with mating selection.

Click here for the teleost gallery

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Link to the Malawi Cichlids
Link to other African Cichlids

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