IN a recent communication, Marlier and Leleup1 have described how the Tanganyikan Cichlid fishes of the genus Plecodus deliberately attack other fishes and bite off the scales, which are their ...

Nothing about cichlids is ordinary. In Lake Tanganyika alone, at the divide between Central and East Africa, roughly 250 species evolved from a single ancestor over 9.7 million years.

More information: Subordinate male cichlids retain reproductive competence during social suppression, Published online before print July 6, 2011, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.0997 Abstract ...