Tilapia mossambicus

Tilapia is a hardy fish belonging to Cichlidae family. The fish is endemic to Africa but during the last five decades they have been introduced to many parts of the world. Tilapia is being successfully cultured in many countries both in fresh and saline waters. Tilapia are grouped on the basis of their feeding/ breeding habits and anatomical differences under the following genera:

i)                    Tilapia

ii)                    Sarotherodon

iii)                 Oreochromis These fishes are now well known in Indo-Pak due to their hardy nature and prolific breeding in open ponds.

Geographical Distribution:

They are found in Java, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Sri lanka, Pakistan, India, Vietnam, Zair, Madagascar, Mozambique, Zimbabve, Tanzania, & Uganda and other African countries. Since 1985 it is abundantly cultured in Pakistan, particularly in extreme climatic conditions. Tilapias were introduced in Pakistan due to their quality of growing equally well in saline and in brackish waters. Tilapia is presently growing well in Lal Sohanrah Bahawalpur, & Kallar Kahar lake Chakwal.

Fish: Tilapia mossambicus | fish | fishing | angler fish | goldfish |

Marphological Characters:

There are about 77 species of Tilapia in the world in which 20-25 are most important. They all have oblong body shapes with long dorsal fins, which have 23-31 fin rays. The nose has one nostril on each side. Head is upwardly concave.Their colour ranges from olive grey to blackish brown and bright golden. Its size varies from 10 to 40cm.

Feeding:

Tilapias are omnivorous fishes. Various species of Tilapia feed on variety of natural food items e.g., S. galilaeus are mainly herbivores, S. mosambicus & T. rendalli are phytoplankton eater whereas S. alcalicus mostly feeds on dead phytoplankton deposits.

Breeding:

They become sexually mature at an age of just 2-3 months. They breed in standing waters. In Pakistan Tilapia breeds three to four times a year. Their optimum temperature range is between 20-30 oC. They produce several hundred sticky eggs and breed the eggs and larvae in their mouth. These fishes breed frequently in the pond resulting in over population, which can be prevented through use of suitable systems.

Prospects in Aquaculture:

 Now-days UNDP, A.D.B and several other agencies are taking interest in cultivation of Tilapia due to its euryhaline nature which enables them to survive even in 30,000 ppm salinity & water-logged environment. In Pakistan every year 1.601 acres of land becomes useless either due to salinity or water logging. These areas can be used for Tilapia farming because of their hardy nature. As such, the detailed scientific studies and surveys are being made by the Department of Fisheries Punjab to undertake successful culturing of this fish in the said areas. Although Tilapia has been introduced to many brackish natural water bodies but its prospects in Pakistani polyculture system are minimum. Efforts are made to restrict the species to few natural habitats. Experiments for mono-sex culture through sex reversal and other techniques are underway to exploit aquaculture potential of the species.