Tilapia: the African fish that's popular the world over

No fish has made as big of an impact on the global aquaculture industry as the tilapia has. Aquaculture specialist Leslie Ter Morshuizen, owner of Aquaculture Solutions, writes about this highly sought-after fish, which he has come to describe as the aquatic chicken’.

- Leslie Ter Morshuizen

Originally from the lakes and rivers of Africa, tilapia has spread across most of the world as an aquaculture species with superb qualities, both on the farm and in the kitchen.

Tilapia isn't actually a species but rather a group of fish from the family Cichlidae, and even includes many species of fish that are popular in the aquarium trade, such as Malawi cichlids Also included are several species that grow to a size large enough to be eaten, and many of these are farmed.

The Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is a species that dominates global fish farming due to it offering fast growth and being well suited to domestication. More than 99% of all farmed tilapia are either pure or hybrids of Nile tilapia. Thus, when the aquaculture industry speaks about 'tilapia', it is this single species that is being referred to.

In 2022, tilapia was the third most farmed fish species in the world, and is probably the species that is farmed across the widest geography, as the two main species, grass carp and silver carp, are primarily farmed in China (according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, see graph), whilst Nile tilapia is farmed across the world.