EXPERT TOPIC
TILAPIA
EXPERT TOPIC Tilapia
by Daniel Jackson, Content Editor, International Aquafeed
T
he resilience and versatility of tilapia has taken the fish from its natural habitat – the rivers of north Africa – to almost every continent on the planet. The species adapts to a wide range of environments. In one extreme example, having been introduced to the Salton Sea in California (which was merely brackish at the time) tilapia now thrive there in salinity levels that kill other native marine species. Numerically, at least, it is an evolutionary success story. The name tilapia is an umbrella term for a variety of species, the most common being Mozambique tilapia, the Oreochromis aurenus and the Nile Tilapia. It is streamlined with a deep body. The lateral line in tilapia, like many fish, is uninterrupted. Their fins are mostly spined, with the dorsal fins most heavily so. The most common colour of tilapia is red, which was initially a genetic cross between a female Mozambique and the typical male
44 | October 2019 - International Aquafeed