Abstract
Rates of evolutionary change in Lake Victoria continue to stimulate debate. If, as some have claimed, the present fauna is <15 000 years old, speciation must have proceeded apace and, more significantly, morphological and ecological differentiation, especially among the several hundred endemic haplochromine cichlid fishes, has been remarkable. Attempts to demonstrate that similar situations are not unusual in young lakes are frustrated by the facts. Some alleged examples of rapid speciation are undoubtedly incorrect, others are questionable, and the striking morphological changes, so abundantly demonstrated, especially by the haplochromines, cannot be matched elsewhere. The complexities of the evolutionary and distributional histories of the animals concerned have often neither been appreciated nor considered by those who postulate a recent desiccation of L. Victoria. If Greenwood’s superflock concept is correct, haplochromine genera that supposedly evolved so recently in L. Victoria have representatives in L. Kivu that must have been there since well before this alleged but unproven event. Reference is made to new discoveries that have a bearing on the origin and history of the superflock, but which suggest different explanations. As a prelude to the biological aspects of the matter, recent geophysical and palaeolimnological investigations are considered, and many uncertainties and contradictions are revealed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, C. E., C. Woltering & G. Alexander, 2003. Epigenic regulation of trophic morphology through feeding behaviour in Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 78: 43–49.
Bernatchez, J. & J. J. Dodson, 1990. Allopatric origin of sympatric populations of lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) as revealed by mitochondrial-DNA restriction analysis. Evolution 49: 1263–1271.
Beuning, K. & K. Kelts, 1997. 7200 14C yr overflow proposed for Lake Victoria. IDEAL Bull. Winter 1997: 6–7.
Beuning, K., K. Kelts, E. Ito & T. C. Johnson, 1997. Paleohydrology of Lake Victoria, East Africa inferred from 18O/16O ratios in sediment cellulose. Geology 25: 1083–1086
Frost, W. E., 1965. Breeding habits ofWindermere Char, Salvelinus willughbii (Günther) and their bearing on the speciation of these fish. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. 163: 232–284.
Fryer, G., 1968. The parasitic Crustacea of African freshwater fishes, their biology and distribution. J. Zool. Lond. 156: 45–95.
Fryer, G., 1982. The taxonomy and phylogeny of an evolutionary explosion. J. Nat. Hist. 16: 887–894.
Fryer, G., 1997. Biological implications of a suggested Late Pleistocene desiccation of Lake Victoria. Hydrobiologia 354: 177–182.
Fryer, G., 2001. On the age and origin of the species flock of haplochromine cichlid fishes of Lake Victoria. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. 268: 1147–1152.
Fryer, G., P. H. Greenwood & J. F. Peake, 1983. Punctuated equilibria, morphological stasis and the palaeontological documentation of speciation: a biological appraisal of a case history in an African lake. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 20: 195–205.
Fryer, G., P. H. Greenwood & J. F. Peake, 1985. The demonstration of speciation in fossil molluscs and living fishes. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 26: 325–336.
Fryer, G. & T. D. Iles, 1972. The Cichlid Fishes of the Great Lakes of Africa: Their Biology and Evolution. Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh, 641 pp.
Greenwood, P. H., 1973. A revision of the Haplochromis and related species (Pisces, Cichlidae) from Lake George, Uganda. Bull. Br. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) Zool. 25: 139–242.
Greenwood, P. H., 1974. The cichlid fishes of Lake Victoria, East Africa: the biology and evolution of a species flock. Bull. Br. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) Zool. Suppl. (6), 139 pp.
Greenwood, P. H., 1979. Towards a phyletic classification of the ‘genus’ Haplochromis (Pisces, Cichlidae) and related taxa. Part 1. Bull. Br. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) Zool. 35: 265–322.
Greenwood, P. H., 1980. Towards a phyletic classification of the ‘genus’ Haplochromis (Pisces) Cichlidae and related taxa. Part II; the species from Lakes Victoria, Nubugabo, Edward, George and Kivu. Bull. Br. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) Zool. 39: 1–101.
Hebert, P. D. N., 1998. Variable environments and evolutionary diversification in inland waters. In Carvalho, G. R. (ed.), Advances in Molecular Ecology. IOS Press, Amsterdam: 267–290.
Hindar, K., N. Ryman, N., & G. Stähl, 1986. Genetic differentiation among local populations of Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 27: 269–285.
Humphries, J. M., 1984. Genetics of speciation in pupfishes from Laguna Chichanacanab, Mexico. In Echelle, A. E. & I. Kornfield (eds), Evolution of Fish Species Flocks. University of Maine at Orono Press, Maine: 129–139.
Johnson, T. C., K. Kelts & E. Odada, 2000. The Holocene history of Lake Victoria. Ambio 29: 2–11.
Johnson, T. C., C. A. Sholtz, M. R. Talbot, K. Kelts, R. D. Ricketts, G. Nagobi, K. Beuning, I. Ssemmanda & J. W. McGill, 1996. Late Pleistocene desiccation of Lake Victoria and rapid evolution of cichlid fishes. Science 273: 1091–1093.
Kendall, R. L., 1969. The ecological history of the Lake Victoria basin. Ecol. Monogr. 39: 121–176.
Kocher, T. D., 2003. Fractious phylogenies. Nature Lond. 423: 489–491.
Konings, A., 2001. Malawi Cichlids in Their Natural Habitat, 3rd edn. Cichlid Press, El Paso, 352 pp.
Kornfield, I. & K. E. Carpenter, 1984. Cyprinids of Lake Lanao, Philippines: Taxonomic validity, evolutionary rates and speciation scenarios. In Echelle, A. E. & I. Kornfield (eds), Evolution of Fish Species Flocks, University of Maine at Orono Press, Maine: 69–84.
Laerdal, T., M. R. Talbot & T. M. Russel, 2002. Late Quaternary sedimentation and climate in the Lakes Edward and George area. Uganda-Congo. In Odada, E. O. & D.O. Olago (eds), The East African Great Lakes Limnology, Palaeolimnology and Biodiversity. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht: 429–470.
Lippitsch, E., 1993. A phyletic study on lacustrine haplochromine fishes (Perciformes, Cichlidae) of East Africa, based on scale and squamation characters. J. Fish. Biol. 42: 903–946.
Lippitsch, E., 1997. Phylogenetic investigations on the haplochromine Cichlidae of Lake Kivu (East Africa) based on lepidological characters. J. Fish. Biol. 51: 284–299.
McKinnon, J. S. & H. D. Rundle, 2002. Speciation in nature: the threespine stickleback model systems. Trends Ecol. Evol. 17: 480–488.
Meyer, A., 1993. Phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary processes in Africian cichlids. Trends Ecol. Evol. 8: 279–284.
Meyer, A., T. D. Kocher, P. Basasibwaki & A. C Wilson, 1990. Monophyletic origin of Lake Victoria cichlid fishes suggested by mitochondrial DNA sequences. Nature Lond. 347: 550–553.
Meyer, A., C. M. Montero, & A. Spreinat, 1996. Molecular phylogenetic inferences about the evolutionary history of East African fish radiations. In Johnson, T. C. & E. O. Odado (eds), The limnology, climatology and paleoclimatology of the East African Lakes. Gordon & Breach, Toronto: 367–412.
Nagl, S., H. Tichy, W. E Meyer, N. Takezaki, N. Takahata, & J. Klein, 2000. The origin and age of haplochromine fishes in Lake Victoria. East Africa. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. 267: 1049–1061.
Parenti, L. R., 1984. Biogeography of the Andean Killifish genus Orestias with comments on the species flock concept. In Echelle, A. E. & I. Kornfield (eds), Evolution of Fish Species Flocks. University of Maine at Orono Press, Maine: 85–92.
Price, J. P. & D. A. Clague, 2002. How old is the Hawaiian biota? Geology and phylogeny suggest recent divergence. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. 269: 2429–2435.
Regan, C. T., 1911. The Freshwater Fishes of the British Isles. Methuen, London, 287 pp.
Seehausen, O. 1996. Lake Victoria Rock Cichlids-Taxonomy, Ecology and Distribution. Verduyn Cichlids, 304 pp.
Seehausen, O., 2000. Explosive speciation rates and unusual species richness in haplochromine cichlid fishes: effects of sexual selection. Adv. Ecol. Res. 31: 237–274.
Seehausen, O., 2002. Patterns of fish radiation are compatible with Pleistocene desiccation of Lake Victoria and 14600 year history for its cichlid species flock. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. 269: 491–497.
Seehausen, O., E. Koetsier, M.V. Schneider, L. J. Chapman, C. A. Chapman, M. E. Knight, G. F. Turner, J. J. M. van Alphen & R. Bills. 2003. Nuclear markers reveal unexpected genetic variation and a Congolese-Nilotic origin of the Lake Victoria cichlid species flock. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. 270: 129–137.
Seehausen, O., J. J. M. Van Alphen, & Witte, 1997. Cichlid fish diversity threatened by eutrophication that curbs sexual selection. Science 277: 1808–1811.
Schluter, D., 1996. Ecological speciation in postglacial fishes. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. 351: 807–814.
Snoeks, J., 1994. The haplochromines (Teleostei, Cichlidae) of Lake Kivu (East Africa): a taxonomic revision with notes on their ecology. Ann. Mus. Roy. Afr. Cent. Sci. Zool. 270: 1–221.
Snoeks, J., 2000. How well known is the ichthyodiversity of the large East African lakes? Adv. Ecol. Res. 31: 17–38.
Snoeks, J., 2001. Cichlid diversity, speciation and systematics: examples from the Great African Lakes. J. Aquaricult. Aquat. Sci 9: 150–166.
Snoeks, J., L. De Vos & D. Thys van den Audenaerde, 1997. The ichthyogeography of Lake Kivu. S. Af. J. Sci. 93: 579–584.
Snorrason, S. S., S. Skulason, B. Jonsson, H. J. Malmquist, P. M. Jónasson, O. T. Sandlund & T. Lindem, T. 1994. Trophic specialization in Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus (Pisces; Salmonidae): morphological divergence and ontogenetic niche shifts. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 52: 1–18.
Stager, J. C. & T.C. Johnson, 2000. A 12,400 14C yr offshore diatom record from east central Lake Victoria, East Africa. J. Paleolinnol. 23: 373–383.
Taylor, E. B. & P. Bentzen, 1993. Evidence for multiple origins and sympatric divergence of trophic ecotypes of smelt (Osmerus) in north eastern North America. Evolution 57: 813–832.
Talbot, M. R. & T. Laerdal, 2000. The Late Pleistocene-Holocene palaeolimnology of Lake Victoria, East Africa, based upon elemental and isotopic analyses of sedimentary organic matter. J. Paleolimnol. 23: 141–164.
Trewavas, E., 1949. The origin and evolution of the cichlid fishes of the Great African lakes, with special reference to Lake Nyasa. Proc. 13th Int. Cong. Zool. (Paris): 1-4.
Turgeon, J. & L. Bernatchez, 2001. Clinal variation at microsatellite loci reveals historical secondary intergradation between glacial races of Coregonus artedi (Teleostei:Coregoninae). Evolution 55: 2274–2286.
Väinölä, R., 1986. Sibling species and phylogenetic relationships of Mysis relicta (Crustacea: Mysidacea). Ann. Zool. Fennici 23: 207–221.
Väinölä, R., 1995. Origin and recent endemic divergence of a Caspian Mysis species flock with affinities to the ‘Glacial relict’ crustaceans in Boreal lakes. Evolution 49: 1215–1223.
Väinölä, R. & S.-L. Varvio, 1989. Molecular divergence and evolutionaery relationships in Pontoporeia (Crustacea: Amphipoda). Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 46: 1705–1713.
Väinölä, R., T. Kontula, K. Mashiko & R.M. Kamaltynov, 2002. Extensive geographical structuring of ‘interspecific’ molecular diversity in endemic Lake Baikal amphipods. Abstract of conf. Speciation in Ancient Lakes. Irkutsk.
Verheyen, E.,W. Salzburger, J. Snoeks & A. Meyer. 2003. Origin of the superflock of cichlid fishes from Lake Victoria, East Africa. Science 300: 325–329.
Williamson, P. G, 1981. Palaeontological documentation of speciation in Cenozoic molluscs from Turkana Basin. Nature Lond. 293: 437–443.
Wilson, A. B., K. Noach-Kunnmann & A. Meyer, 2000. Incipient speciation in sympatric Nicaraguan crater lake cichlid fishes: sexual selection versus ecological diversification. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. 267: 2133–2141.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fryer, G. Speciation rates in lakes and the enigma of Lake Victoria. Hydrobiologia 519, 167–183 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:HYDR.0000026503.59198.c5
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:HYDR.0000026503.59198.c5