Abstract
IN papers dealing with the evolution of fishes in the Great Lakes of East and Central Africa, Worthington1–3 postulates that a major contributory factor to the great adaptive radiation shown by the family Cichlidae in certain lakes, notably Victoria, Edward and Nyasa, has been the absence from their waters of active predators. The theoretical implications of this suggestion have been accepted by Huxley4 but have been criticized by Mayr5.
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References
Worthington, E. B., Int. Rev. Hydrob., 35, 304 (1937).
Worthington, E. B., in “The New Systematics”, edit. J. S. Huxley, 287 (London, 1940).
Worthington, E. B., Nature, 173, 1064 (1954).
Huxley, J. S., “Evolution: the Modern Synthesis” (London, 1942).
Mayr, E., “Systematics and the Origin of Species”, 272, 273 (Columbia, 1942).
Bertram, C. K. R., Borley, H. J. H., and Trewavas, E., “Report on the Fish and Fisheries of Lake Nyasa” (London, 1942).
Lowe, R. H., “Report on the Tilapia and other Fish and Fisheries of Lake Nyasa” (London, 1952).
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FRYER, G., ILES, T. Predation Pressure and Evolution in Lake Nyasa. Nature 176, 470 (1955). https://doi.org/10.1038/176470a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/176470a0
