Tilapia – An Excellent Candidate Species for World Aquaculture: A Review

Aquaculture is currently playing, and will continue to play, a big part in boosting global fish production and in meeting the rising demand of fishery products. Capture fisheries production has levelled off and is no longer considered capable of sustaining the supply of fisheries products needed to meet the growing global demand. Tilapia is the common name for several species of cichlid fish inhabiting freshwater streams, ponds, rivers and lakes and less commonly in brackish water. Considered as an invasive species, tilapias are now of increasing importance in Aquaculture. Tilapia is the second most farmed fish world-wide and its production has quadrupled over the past decade because of its suitability for aquaculture, marketability and stable market prices. Native to Africa and Middle East, tilapias were introduced into over 90 countries for aquaculture and fisheries. Tilapia continued its rapid increase in global production. Recent production figures reported by various sources, our global production estimate for 2015 is 5,576,800 mt. Tilapias are now one of the most widely introduced fish globally that has clearly emerged as a very promising group in aquaculture.