Quaternary Fish-Fossils

Abstract

Fish-remains collected from deposits at Ishango (Lake Edward) and the Semliki valley by Dr. J. DE HEINZELIN'S 1960 expedition, have increased considerably our historical knowledge of East African fishes. The collections are of especial value since their temporal range extends over the entire Pleistocene period, a time when the great lakes of Africa were undergoing extensive topographical changes and their faunae were subject to the vicissitudes of changing climate and hydrography. Indeed, the Pleistocene may be looked upon as a critical phase in the evolution of the present-day East African fish-fauna from an earlier and possibly pan-African type. Many taxonomists and evolutionists have been attracted by the biogeographical problems which these lakes present. But, attempts to explain the often curious distribution of families and genera within the area have been hampered by the lack of an adequate palaeontological background.