Tilapia

Japanese name

 * izumidai

About tilapia
An important food fish in Africa for eons, tilapia are Aquacultured around the world from Asia, to South America, to the United States and Canada. The low fat flesh of the tilapia is white (sometimes tinged with pink), sweet and fine-textured. It's suitable for baking, broiling, grilling and steaming. The tilapia is also called St. Peter's fish and, in Hawaii, Hawaiian sun fish. Tilapia also called Saint Peter’s fish is a member of Cichlidae family and it is very similar to perch and bass. Tilapia fish live in fresh or brackish water and they can be found in rivers, lakes or estuaries. Generally tilapia survives by feeding themselves with soft aquatic plants and detritus. There are some tilapia species which feed on o’opu which is a Hawaiian endemic fish. Tilapias are small or medium size fish which grow quite fast. Because they are quite small and in order to escape the predators they are fast swimmers. Although tilapias are very similar to perch or bass genus they have only one dorsal fin instead of two. There are numerous species of tilapia divided in three main genera such as Oreochromis, Sarotherodon and Tilapia. Those three genera differ from the modality with which fish reproduce. Tilapia’s normal size varies from twelve to five centimeters and the normal size is of about six inches. Tilapias are fishes which adapt to living in the aquarium although not all species of tilapia can be kept in an aquarium because they may attack the other fishes.