Unique, the tilapia appeared a lot to eat

The culture of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) can be traced to ancient Egyptian times as depicted on bas-relief from an Egyptian tomb dating back over 4000 years, which showed the fish held in ornamental ponds. While significant worldwide distribution of tilapias, primarily Oreochromis mossambicus, occurred during the 1940s and 1950s, distribution of the more desirable Nile tilapia occurred during the 1960s up to the 1980s. Nile tilapia from Japan were introduced to Thailand in 1965, and from Thailand they were sent to the Philippines. Nile tilapia from Cote d'Ivoire were introduced to Brazil in 1971, and from Brazil they were sent to the United States in 1974. In 1978, Nile tilapia was introduced to China, which leads the world in tilapia production and consistently produced more than half of the global production in every year from 1992 to 2003. The uncontrolled breeding of tilapia in ponds, which led to excessive recruitment, stunting and a low percentage of marketable-sized fish, dampened the initial enthusiasm for tilapia as a food fish. The development of hormonal sex-reversal techniques in the 1970s represented a major breakthrough that allowed male monosex populations to be raised to uniform, marketable sizes. In addition, research on nutrition and culture systems, along with market development and processing advances, led to rapid expansion of the industry since the mid 1980s. Several species of tilapia are cultured commercially, but Nile tilapia is the predominant cultured species worldwide.

Main producer countries

Main producer countries of Oreochromis niloticus (FAO Fishery Statistics, 2006)

Other countries are also significant producers of farmed Nile tilapia but are not recorded on this map for reasons explained within the section of this fact sheet entitled Production.

Habitat and biology

Nile tilapia is a tropical species that prefers to live in shallow water. The lower and upper lethal temperatures for Nile tilapia are 11-12 °C and 42 °C, respectively, while the preferred temperature ranges from 31 to 36 °C. It is an omnivorous grazer that feeds on phytoplankton, periphyton, aquatic plants, small invertebrates, benthic fauna, detritus and bacterial films associated with detritus. Nile tilapia can filter feed by entrapping suspended particles, including phytoplankton and bacteria, on mucous in the buccal cavity, although its main source of nutrition is obtained by surface grazing on periphyton mats. Sexual maturity in ponds is reached at an age of 5-6 months. Spawning begins when the water temperature reaches 24 °C. The breeding process starts when the male establishes a territory, digs a craterlike spawning nest and guards his territory. The ripe female spawns in the nest, and immediately after fertilization by the male, collects the eggs into her mouth and moves off. The female incubates the eggs in her mouth and broods the fry after hatching until the yolk sac is absorbed. Incubating and brooding is accomplished in 1 to 2 weeks, depending on temperature. After fry are released, they may swim back into her mouth if danger threatens. Being a maternal mouth brooder, the number of eggs per spawn is small in comparison with most other pond fishes. Egg number is proportional to the body weight of the female. A 100 g female will produce about 100 eggs per spawn, while a female weighing 600-1 000 g can produce 1 000 to 1 500 eggs. The male remains in his territory, guarding the nest, and is able to fertilize eggs from a succession of females. If there is no cold period, during which spawning is suppressed, the female may spawn continuously. While the female is brooding, she eats little or nothing. Nile tilapia can live longer than 10 years and reach a weight exceeding 5 kg.