Molecular mechanisms underlying nuchal hump formation in dolphin cichlid, Cyrtocara moorii

The aim of this study is to identify genes with potential roles in the formation of nuchal hump soft tissues in Cyrtocara moorii, a member of Haplochromine cichlid tribe endemic to Lake Malawi in East Africa, which develops conspicuous hump-headed morphology in adult males.To our knowledge, this study provides the first transcriptional profile of nuchal hump in fish, and the identified list of differentially expressed genes in the nuchal hump tissues allows us to hypothesize potential molecular mechanisms controlling the formation of this craniofacial structure reported in different groups of teleost fish.