<p>Among teleosts, the hyoid bone is critical for feeding, but the causes and consequences of hyoid shape variation are poorly understood relative to other elements in the head. We leverage the experimental tractability and evolutionary richness of East African cichlids to fill this knowledge gap. We first quantified hyoid shape variation in an ecologically diverse set of species, as well as in an <i>F</i>₅ hybrid population derived from crossing two Lake Malawi cichlid species. We found that hyoid shape variation was both broad and nuanced, and only weakly predicted by foraging ecology. We then analyzed growth dynamics of the hyoid, which revealed a unique feature of the bone that differed between species—a series of interdigitating sutures that spanned the growth plate to connect the lateral (i.e., epihyal) and medial (i.e., ceratohyal) components of the hyoid. Finally, we used genetic mapping procedures in the <i>F</i>₅ population to identify regions of the genome associated with hyoid shape variation. A candidate gene, <i>utrn</i>, was identified and verified via RT-qPCR, exhibiting differential expression between species. All together our results provide foundational insights into the evolution, developmental origins, and genetic basis of variation in this important but understudied component of the cichlid-feeding apparatus.</p>