EVOLUTION IN FAST FORWARD - HAPLOCHROMINE FISHES OF THE LAKE VICTORIAREGION

The explosive speciation and adaptive radiation of haplochromine cichl id fishes in Lake Victoria is unrivalled among vertebrates. It holds a nswers to many intriguing questions about the origins and maintenance of biological diversity. Unfortunately, Lake Victoria is also a case-s tudy in anthropogenic mass extinction. Over 50 per cent of its endemic fishes disappeared between 1980 and 1986. Hundreds of species abruptl y became extinct or vanished, disappearing an order of magnitude faste r than they could be described. This article examines the dynamics tha t underlie this fauna's extraordinary volatility, and hence points the way towards its conservation.