Some Aspects of The Biology of Tilapia Species

Abstract

The most economically important fish in the inland waters of East and Central Africa are the Tilapia species. These fish are members of the family Cichlidae and the order Percomorpha and are broadly perch-like. In this cichlid group also are the Haplochromis species. In the East and Central African waters we have at least some 25 known species. We have, however, at least twice that number of names, due partly to the number of synonyms that one species might have and also partly because some species are so closely allied and so similar in general appearance that there has always been a controversy on whether a particular Tilapia belongs to this or that species. Systematic polemics do not, however, form the subject of this paper.