another example that illustrates important eclogicai concepts is the nile perch, introduced into lake victoria in east africa by europeans who wanted to provide additional food and income for the people livinginthe area. the lake had supported fishing for a variety of endemic fish-mostly cichlids, which feed on detritus and plants. there were no large predators in the ecosystem, and the cichlids lacked adaptations for escapig perdators. the introduced perch annihilted the cichlid populations,destroyed the native fishery, andreduced its own food supply to the point thatperch were not abundant enough to be a significant food source for humans. by ignoing basic ecological concepts, those who introduced the perch virtually destroyed the lake's entire fishery. because energyis lost in each higher trophic level of a food chain, a predator can never be harvested at as high a rate as its prey.