Marine cichlid?

[dan518]

Tracing Cichlids Through the Seas | Science | AAAS (sciencemag.org)

Sorry to interrupt the English lesson, but going back to fish I stumbled across this short article which ties into this thread quite well. Cichlid evolution, and the hypothesis that freshwater may have adapted to salt and spread like that. The adaptability of cichlids.

I posted a similar paper on this subject a few years ago, they aged cichlids to about 100 million years old with the first ones reaching South America about 60 million years ago. Which poses some interesting questions.
There is still a possibility that cichlids are older then we think and about when gondwana broke up.
I think the likely hood of cichlids swimming across open ocean very unlikely, most marine fish don't even do that.
I have read a few bits about a chain of islands almost joining the two separating continent. So they might have spread from one island to the next and so on over a 40 million year period.
I also read a paper somewhere that said some reptiles seemed to reach south America about the same time.

 

[Rocksor]

Found the study on salt tolerances of Black belt cichlids etc.

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/51532/Oldfield_Saltwater_Cichlids_2004.pdf;sequence=1

 

[mattybecks]

Found the study on salt tolerances of Black belt cichlids etc.

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/51532/Oldfield_Saltwater_Cichlids_2004.pdf;sequence=1

Very interesting. Thanks

 

[Deadeye]

Found the study on salt tolerances of Black belt cichlids etc.

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/51532/Oldfield_Saltwater_Cichlids_2004.pdf;sequence=1

Great, now I’m getting ideas lol! I can’t get the sight of it in a tank with clownfish out if my head. Lol
Really interesting, it’s cool to see how adaptable these fish really are, and how it varies so much between close relatives.

 

[FJB]

"... But almost no calcium. So no mollusks or snails."

The above is not quite correct. Yes, life conditions in Lake Turkana are somewhat unusual, but not enough not to allow mollusks to thrive. In fact, there are few places on earth where mollusks have not been able to colonize and thrive.
In this study (Cohen 1986 - Distribution and faunal associations of benthic invertebrates in Lake Turkana, Kenya. Hydrobiologia 141: 179-197) 8 different species in 5 families of freshwater gastropods are listed as known from Lake Turkana; one of them is an (as of 1986) undescribed species of Tomichia, known from nowhere else. In addition, 3 species of bivalves, in two families. Among the snails, several species that are common in 'regular' freshwater environments are present (Melanoides, Gabbiella, Pila); among the bivalves, Etheria elliptica is somewhat widespread. Mollusks rule!