African Lake Cichlid

African Great Lake cichlids represent the fastest large-scale vertebrate radiation ever documented. Lake Victoria alone houses over 500 species that evolved in just 15,000 years - a blink in evolutionary time. Lake Malawi contains 1,000+ species. Each lake's cichlids descended from a few founder species, radiating into algae scrapers, snail crushers, fish eaters, scale biters, and eye pluckers.

The speed of cichlid radiation challenges traditional evolutionary thinking. Species formed not over millions of years but thousands - sometimes with genetic divergence preceding physical changes. Sexual selection played a crucial role: females' color preferences drove rapid diversification of male coloration, creating reproductive isolation between populations before other differences accumulated.

This maps to rapid market segmentation in new industries. When a new market opens, companies can differentiate faster than traditional strategy suggests. Customer preferences (analogous to female mate choice) can drive segmentation faster than technological divergence. The first companies to establish distinct identities may achieve reproductive isolation - brand loyalty that prevents customer switching even when competitors offer similar functionality.

Cichlid radiation also demonstrates how modularity enables adaptation. Cichlid jaw architecture is highly modular, allowing independent evolution of different components. This modularity accelerated diversification - changes in one jaw element didn't require changes in others. Companies with modular architectures similarly adapt faster, evolving individual components without requiring system-wide redesign.