Marine incursion: the freshwater herring of Lake Tanganyika are the product of a marine invasion into west Africa.

The spectacular marine-like diversity of the endemic fauna of Lake Tanganyika, the oldest of the African Great Lakes, led early researchers to suggest that the lake must have once been connected to the ocean. Recent geophysical reconstructions clearly indicate that Lake Tanganyika formed by rifting in the African subcontinent and was never directly linked to the sea. Although the Lake has a high proportion of specialized endemics, the absence of close relatives outside Tanganyika has complicated phylogeographic reconstructions of the timing of lake colonization and intralacustrine diversification.

Phylogeographic patterns in populations of the black-chinned tilapia complex (Teleostei, Cichlidae) from coastal areas in West Africa: support for the refuge zone theory.

Within the tilapiines, a major African cichlid lineage, quite limited genetic informations are available on phylogenetic interrelationships and phylogeographical patterns at both macro- and micro-evolutionary scales. The present study examines the genetic diversity of the black-chinned tilapia complex from coastal areas in West Africa (Senegal to Congo-Brazzaville) based on mtDNA control region sequences. Phylogenetic inferences provide support for the monophyly of both taxa involved.

Comparative study on the cranial morphology of Gymnallabes typus (Siluriformes: Clariidae) and their less anguilliform relatives, Clariallabes melas and Clarias gariepinus.

We compare the cranial morphology of four fish species with an increasing anguilliformism in the following order: Clarias gariepinus, Clariallabes melas, Gymnallabes typus, and Channallabes apus. The main anatomical-morphological disparities are the stepwise reduction of the skull roof along with the relative enlargement of the external jaw muscles, which occurred in each of them. Gymnallabes typus and C.