Since the publication of Darwin’s 'On the origin of species' 150 years ago, speciation remains one of the most exciting and at the same time least understood evolutionary processes. Recent advances in speciation theory have been both inspired and informed by the adaptive radiations of cichlids of the East African Great Lakes. These lakes harbour over a thousand species, and represent over 10% of the worldwide freshwater fish diversity. In the focus of my research are the cichlid species flocks of Lakes Tanganyika and Natron-Magadi.
