TILAPIA

Tilapia or St. Peter’s fish, a spiny-finned freshwater fish of the family Cichlidae, native chiefly to Africa and the Middle East. Fish of the genera Oreochromis, Sarotherodon, and Tilapia, all commonly known as tilapias, have laterally compressed bodies like those of sunfish, are fast growing, and tolerate brackish water. True tilapias are nest brooders, but some species incubate their eggs orally: one or both parents carry them in their mouths until (and for a short period after) the young hatch. They are economically important as food fishes, both in their native regions and elsewhere, where they have been introduced or are grown on fish farms.



The Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) may have been farmed in ancient Egypt and the most commercially important tilapia of aquaculture are Oreochromis species and their hybrids which are raised in ponds in South America, USA, Indonesia, and China. Tilapias have a mild-tasting flesh, but the skin has a bitter flavor. They become well known in Canada after intensive marketing programs in the late 80’s. Fresh chilled Tilapia come from Ecuador, Costa Rica, …. While frozen IQF, Tilapia comes from Thailand, China, Taiwan and Vietnam.



“Tilapia or St. Peter’s fish is a spiny-finned freshwater fish of the family Cichlidae”