Since their discovery almost one hundred years ago, the adaptive radiations of cichlid fishes
in the largest East African lakes have fascinated biologists. They are a prime example of
explosive speciation. Among vertebrates, these species assemblages are the most species rich
and the most diverse, morphologically, ecologically and behaviorally. Recent phylogenetic
analyses of molecular data and refined knowledge about the geological history of the East
African lakes are throwing new light on the evolutionary history of these extraordinary
fish faunas.