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A Smorgasbord of Cichlids
Why are there so many species of cichlids? Dr. Melanie Stiassny, a scientist with the American Museum of Natural History, has done lots of research on African cichlids. She thinks their success has something to do with the way they take care of their young. Most fish species simply leave their eggs to develop on their own. But cichlids look after their young until they're big enough to live on their own. In fact, many cichlids are "maternal mouthbreeders," which is a fancy way of saying that the female carries the fertilized eggs around in her mouth until they hatch and are ready to swim free. Even when the offspring are old enough to swim on their own, they return to her mouth when predators are near, or to sleep. Since cichlids tend to stay with their young, they tend to stick together and are often isolated from other fish. This isolation means that over many generations, they evolve (change) faster than other fish. This may explain why there are so many unique species of cichlid.