Hundreds of species of cichlid fishes have evolved in the Great Lakes of Africa. These colorful fishes are known for their ecological diversity. Here, we discuss the diversity of their visual systems. Cichlids have seven unique cone opsin genes, which produce visual pigments sensitive from the ultraviolet to the red end of the spectrum. Different species typically express three visual pigments ...

The dramatic variation of cichlid fish colour pattern is thought to function in mate choice, evolve by sexual selection, and contribute to explosive speciation. Here, we combine linkage mapping and population genetic analyses to identify a single region of the cichlid genome responsible for the orange blotch (OB) colour phenotype. In each analysis, OB is tightly linked to the c-ski1 gene. Addit...

Most freshwater diversity is arguably located in networks of rivers and streams, but, in contrast to lacustrine systems riverine radiations, are largely understudied. The extensive rapids of the lower Congo River is one of the few river stretches inhabited by a locally endemic cichlid species flock as well as several species pairs, for which we provide evidence that they have radiated in situ. ...

Sex determination mechanisms are highly variable across teleost fishes and sexual development is often plastic. Nevertheless, downstream factors establishing the two sexes are presumably conserved. Here, we study sequence evolution and gene expression of core genes of sexual development in a prime model system in evolutionary biology, the East African cichlid fishes. Using the available five ci...

The visualization of autophagosomes in dying cells has led to the belief that autophagy is a nonapoptotic form of programmed cell death. This concept has now been evaluated using cells and organisms deficient in autophagy genes. Most evidence indicates that, at least in cells with intact apoptotic machinery, autophagy is primarily a pro-survival rather than a pro-death mechanism. This review su...

We examine lateralization of lateral displays in convict cichlids, Amatitlania nigrofasciata, and show a population level preference for showing the right side. This enables contesting pairs of fish to align in a head-to-tail posture, facilitating other activities. We found individuals spent a shorter mean time in each left compared with each right lateral display. This lateralization could lea...

background: the presence of pesticide due to the huge demand for agricultural purposes is very prevalent in surface waters of iran. these pesticides could finally accumulate in aquatic ecosystems and have been proved to have toxic effects on aquatic animals. the aim of this study was to assess the acute toxicity of diazinon, deltamethrin, butachlor and pretilachlor on zebra cichlid (cryptoheros...