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This paper, dealing with the morphology (viz. structure, insertion areas, direction and, to a lesser degree, shape) of the head muscles of Haplochromis elegans, is the second study in a series on the head-morphology of this generalized Haplochromis species from the East-Africa Lakes Edward and George. The shape-descriptions of the skeletal elements, given in the first paper of the series (BAREL et al., 1976), have been used for an accurate definition of the position of the muscles. As well as dissection, graphical reconstructions from serial sections were necessary for an adequate description, especially of the small and complicated branchial muscles. The aim of the series is a basic description of the head-morphology of a generalized Haplochromis species suitable for comparative studies on the functional morphology of cichlid fishes. Therefore the muscle-descriptions deal with aspects relevant to functional morphology and generally do not enter upon questions of formal comparative morphology, viz. homology and related subjects.

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