Jordan Foundation Research: The evolution of mouthbrooding in South American eartheaters

" ...the limited data presented in this small study continue to argue for the multiple independent origin of mouthbrooding in the genus Geophagus sensu stricto, in the eartheater clade (e.g., Geophagus, Gymnogeophagus, “Geophagus,” Satanoperca) and in cichlids in general the world over. It is a highly effective and adaptive reproductive strategy and cichlids are highly preadapted for it. Thus, it has evolved many times during the evolutionary history of cichlids. "