The exceptionally diverse species flocks of cichlid fishes in the Great Lakes of East Africa are an ideal system for studying the molecular mechanisms that underlie parallel evolution of phenotypic traits in nature. A characteristic feature of the most species-rich group of cichlids, the haplochromines, are egg-dummies (‘ocelli’) on the anal fins of males, which play an important role in the breeding cycle of these mouthbrooding fishes. Egg-dummies have also evolved in parallel in another cichlid lineage, the ectodines. It has recently been shown that the same gene, csf1ra, is expressed in both types of egg dummies suggesting that the same developmental cascades might be used to form this parallel trait. The main goal of this proposal is to test whether the same genes or genetic pathways underlie parallel egg-dummy morphologies. We are going to identify new genes and/or pathways required for egg-dummies development in A. burtoni and O. ventralis, and after proceed to the comparison with the genetic pathways of the egg-dummies of  non-haplochromines lineage.