On the shelves of our stores and in the households of aquarists today you can often see these types of fish, which until recently could only be read in encyclopedias. A vivid example of this is tilapia.
This fish is especially popular among aquarists, as its behavioral characteristics and appearance are interesting not only to beginners, but even venerable specialists.
Who is she?
Let us consider in more detail what tilapia is. What kind of fish is this? This is a fairly extensive genus belonging to the Tsikhlov family (Tsikhlid). It includes at least hundreds of species that are common in the tropics and subtropics. Until recently, ichthyologists divided the vast genus into two others: Oreochromis and Sarotherodon.
To date, this division has been abolished, since the differences between the representatives of these varieties are minimal. In addition, difficulties were always added to the specialists by the fact that under natural conditions tilapia is a fish prone to interspecific crossbreeding.
As a result, even in natural reservoirs of Africa there are so many hybrids that even an experienced zoologist can often not figure out their diversity.
The name of the entire family was given by its largest representative, who to this day lives in the area of the African lake Malawi. Some scholars argue that the emergence of such an unusual "name" contributed to the famous Aristotle himself.
They say that once he was visiting a friend, on whose table there was just tilapia. “What a fish!” - exclaimed Archimedes. The scientist was so shocked by the wonderful taste of her fillet that he regretfully remarked: “What a pity that this is“ tilapia ”. If you translate this word from the ancient Greek language into Russian, it will become clear that the pundit was just saddened by the fact that she lives too far.
Appearance and biological features
Appearance is quite specific, since a short body with rough outlines is somewhat disharmonious with its height, which in some species is 2.5 times longer than its length. The head is also massive and somewhat rude. Juveniles and females do not differ in saturated color.
Gray and silver colors predominate in their colors. At the rear edge of the gill cover, they have a rather large spot of rounded shape. This color is associated with habitats where tilapia fish is found in nature: where this species is found, there are many bottom sediments and stones at the bottom, among which there are practically no plants for camouflage.
Males are much prettier: the color is dominated by green with a metallic tint. During the mating season, four large white spots appear on the sides, the lower lip and gill cover also acquire a white hue. As soon as the male reaches puberty, his pectoral fins become saturated red, and his body becomes velvet black. There are white dots on the dorsal and caudal fin.
The teeth of these fish are poorly developed, short. Large scales. The intestines give out the nature of nutrition: it is extremely long, forms a very large number of loops. This is due to the fact that tilapia (what kind of fish, you already know) eats a large amount of purely plant food.
Propagation Features
Note that one of the unique features of these fish is their sexual dimorphism. In fact, males and females are well distinguishable, but in most cases their gender is a rather conventional concept, since with a certain combination of external and internal factors, nutrition or ambient temperature, males can be obtained from females.
Simply put, among the representatives of this species, about 70% of hidden hermaphrodites. That is why this fish has become so widespread: only a couple of individuals of any gender can be released into the reservoir, so that in a couple of years a whole population will already live in it.
Nature of nutrition
Despite the predominance of vegetation in food, these fish can rightfully be called omnivorous. Types of aurea, Mary, as well as their Nile and Mozambique varieties feed on any organic matter.
If we talk about melanopleuruses and cilli, then they are generally almost pure vegetarians. In general, scientists have already written more than a dozen monographs about the enormous role of these species in the disposal of bottom sediments.
Distribution geography
East Africa is considered the historical homeland . These species are widespread in Zanzibar and Natal. In ancient times, they spread widely throughout the territory of Israel (where tilapia has been known as the “Fish of St. Peter” since biblical times), Jordan and Syria. Beginning in 1830 (thanks to French expeditions), their mass expansion began in Southeast Asia.
Tilapia fish (photo of which is in the article) was introduced into our country by aquarists. There is evidence that this was done before 1917. Since 1960, it has been purposefully cultivated in cooler ponds at nuclear power plants, thermal power plants and other industrial facilities, since under these conditions the ability of tilapia to destroy aquatic vegetation becomes important. In the southern regions (Krasnodar, for example) from artificial reservoirs, these fish fell into rivers and ponds.
Notes for aquarists
If you are interested in breeding tilapia in a home aquarium, then you need to keep in mind that the males of these species are extremely individualistic, needing a large aquarium with a decent bottom area.
For aquarists, they are extremely interesting for their diverse behavior and ability to make contact with humans. So, they quickly begin to recognize their master, easily distinguish him from other people, and with pleasure and complete fearlessness take food from his hands.
Economic value
But in our country, most species of these fish are not known at all because of their interesting behavior. The fact is that on the shelves of grocery stores you can see the outlandish "river chicken" or "sea chicken." So how is tilapia grown? Indeed, in natural reservoirs such a catch would have long put an end to its fishery!
As we have said, on an industrial scale, it is often bred in various cooling ponds. But most of the food tilapia today is bred in Southeast Asia, where you can often see giant fish farms. They look like hundreds of small partitioned ponds.
In general, rearing these fish is extremely profitable from an economic point of view. Since they eat almost everything, you will not incur large costs. Unfortunately, illegibility in food often plays a bad joke with end users.
So, some Asian farmers use manure to feed them. There is nothing unnatural in this, since tilapia perfectly absorb processed fiber, but the problem is in helminth eggs, which can then remain in the fish for a long time.
Why is she so popular?
Why have representatives of this genus become so common in aquaculture around the world? And this is not only about Asian countries, but even North America, where red tilapia was bred specifically for breeding power plants and some industrial enterprises.
The thing is that the meat of these fish has an excellent taste, contains many valuable amino acids and vitamins. In addition, tilapia reaches industrial condition (from fry to carcass) in just a couple of months, while consuming waste plant waste or even eating weed vegetation in ponds.
That is why tilapia (what kind of fish we are, we told) became the second most widely used object of industrial aquaculture, second only to some varieties of carp.