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| NAS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species |
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Common Name: Nile tilapia
Synonyms and Other Names: Nile mouthbrooder
Taxonomy: available through 
Identification:
A commonly used name is Tilapia nilotica. Distinguishing characteristics, synonyms, an illustration, keys, and a discussion of hybrids in Trewavas (1983a). Distinguishing characteristics and illustration were also given by Eccles (1992). Photographs appeared in Axelrod et al. (1985) and Axelrod (1993). This species closely resembles Oreochromis aureus. Before the two species were shown to be distinct, many or most accounts of "Tilapia nilotica" in U.S. ponds probably referred to O. aureus, likely imported from Israel (Trewavas 1983a).
In the U.S. and other regions where they have been introduced, tilapias have hybridized and introgressed in aquaculture settings and subsequently escaped into the wild. Reproductively viable hybrids have resulted from these various crosses and thus, for most tilapia poulations in the U.S., the use of meristics and traditional systematics to assign species names to specimens is not useful (see: Costa-Pierce 2003).
Size: 63 cm (de Moor and Bruton 1988
Native Range:
Tropical and subtropical Africa, Middle East. Widely distributed in Nile and Niger river basins and in lakes Tanganyika, Albert, Edward, and George, as well as in many smaller drainages and lakes in western and eastern Africa; also in Middle East in Yarkon River, Israel (Trewavas 1983a).
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Interactive maps: Continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, Caribbean
Nonindigenous Occurrences:
A single fish in cold distress was taken from the Saugahatchee Creek portion of Yates Reservoir, in the Tallapoosa drainage of Mobile Basin, Lee County, Alabama, on 12 January 1986 (Hornsby, personal communication; Boschung 1992). Probably in reference to Yates Reservoir, Courtenay and Williams (1992) reported that a reservoir on the Tallapoosa River, where this species has been recorded, receives drainage from the aquaculture ponds of Auburn University. This species reportedly was being reared in fish farms in Arizona and apparently was introduced experimentally into the southern part of the state (Minckley 1973; Grabowski et al. 1984); however, the identification of those fish has come into question (Courtenay and Hensley 1979b; Courtenay et al. 1984, 1986). Specific sites of introduction are not mentioned in the literature and there are no recent reports of this species in the state. The species is established in Orange Lake (Alachua County), Florida (FWC). Anglers have taken this species from Lake Seminole in the Apalachicola drainage, Seminole County, on both sides of the Florida and Georgia border, since about 1991; it is possibly established in the reservoir (Smith-Vaniz, personal communication). In 2004/2005 it was reported from Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal at the Crawford Generation Plant, the South Fork of the South Branch of the Chicago River, and in 1999 from the North Shore Channel of the Chicago River at Dempster, Illinois (Wozniak, pers. comm.; Wasik, pers. comm.) A breeding population of Nile tilapia has inhabited Robinson Bayou in the Pascagoula River drainage, Mississippi since the late 1990s (Peterson et al. 2004). Recent collection sites include Crane Creek near Melbourne, Florida (T. Angradi, pers. comm.) and tidal bayous of Galveston Bay in Texas (J. Culbertson (pers. comm.) both in 2006, and Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts in 2007 (K. Hartel, pers. comm.).
Specimens have been reported in non-specific locations in Puerto Rico (Lee et al 1983).
Means of Introduction: This species was introduced for aquaculture purposes. It was introduced into open waters, likely through escape or release from fish farms.
Status: Established in Mississippi. Possibly established in a large reservoir bordering Florida and Georgia. Established locally (Alachua County) in Florida. Reported from Alabama and Arizona.
Impact of Introduction: Unknown.
Remarks:
A specimen taken from Lake Seminole on the Georgia side of the lake near Saunder's Slough in 1991 was originally reported as O. aureus (Gennings, personal communication); however, all available specimens and photographs of tilapia from that lake have thus far proven to be O. niloticus (Smith-Vaniz, personal communication). Although O. niloticus has been reported from Texas, these reports were based on erroneous identifications of other tilapia species (Hubbs 1982, cited by Muoneke 1988). Reports of this species in Arizona also may be based on a misidentification. Minckley's (1973) figure 122, labeled as "Tilapia nilotica," and his description of their young, more closely match T. mariae (Courtenay and Hensley 1979b; Courtenay et al. 1984, 1986).
Voucher specimens: Florida (UF many specimens), Georgia (UF, UGAMNH), Mississippi (MMNH).
Axelrod, H. R. 1993. The most complete colored lexicon of cichlids. Tropical Fish Hobbyist Publications, Inc., Neptune City, NJ.
Axelrod, H. R., W. E. Burgess, N. Pronek, and J. G. Walls. 1985. Dr. Axelrod's atlas of freshwater aquarium fishes. Tropical Fish Hobbyist Publications, Inc., Neptune City, NJ.
Boschung, H. T. 1992. Catalogue of freshwater and marine fishes of Alabama. Alabama Museum of Natural History Bulletin 14:1-266.
Costa-Pierce, B. A. 2003. Rapid evolution of an established feral tilapia (Oreochromis spp.): the need to incorporate invasion science into regulatory structures. Biological Invasions 5: 71-84.
Courtenay, W. R., Jr., and D. A. Hensley. 1979b. Range expansion in southern Florida of the introduced spotted tilapia, with comments on environmental impress. Environmental Conservation 6(2):149-151.
Courtenay, W. R., Jr., and J. D. Williams. 1992. Dispersal of exotic species from aquaculture sources, with emphasis on freshwater fishes. Pages 49-81 in A. Rosenfield, and R. Mann, editors. Dispersal of living organisms into aquatic ecosystems. Maryland Sea Grant Publication, College Park, MD.
Courtenay, W. R., Jr., D. A. Hensley, J. N. Taylor, and J. A. McCann. 1984. Distribution of exotic fishes in the continental United States. Pages 41-77 in W. R. Courtenay, Jr., and J. R. Stauffer, Jr., editors. Distribution, biology and management of exotic fishes. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.
Courtenay, W. R., Jr., D. A. Hensley, J. N. Taylor, and J. A. McCann. 1986. Distribution of exotic fishes in North America. Pages 675-698 in C. H. Hocutt, and E. O. Wiley, editors. The zoogeography of North American freshwater fishes. John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY.
de Moor, I. J., and M. N. Bruton. 1988. Atlas of alien and translocated indigenous aquatic animals in southern Africa. South African National Scientific Programmes Report 144. Foundation for Research Development and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa.
Eccles, D. H. 1992. FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes: field guide to the freshwater fishes of Tanzania. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome, Italy. 145 pp.
Gennings, R.M. - Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Atlanta, GA. Response to NBS-G nonindigenous questionaire.
Hornsby, J. - Alabama Game & Fish, Montgomery, AL.
Minckley, W. L. 1973. Fishes of Arizona. Arizona Fish and Game Department. Sims Printing Company, Inc., Phoenix, AZ.
Muoneke, M. I. 1988. Tilapia in Texas waters. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Inland Fisheries Data Series 9, Austin, TX. 44 pp.
Peterson, M. S., W. T. Slack, N. J. Brown-Peterson, and J. L. McDonald. 2004. Reproduction in nonnative environments: establishment of Nile Tilapia Oreochromis niloticus, in coastal Mississippi watersheds. Copeia 2004: 842-849.
Smith-Vaniz, W. - Ichthyologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Gainesville, FL.
Trewavas, E. 1983a. Tialpine fishes of the genera Sarotherodon, Oreochromis and Danakilia. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.
Other Resources: http://www.thejump.net/id/nile-tilapia.htm (photo of fish from Mississippi)
Global Invasive Species Database Factsheet
Author: Leo G. Nico and Pamela J. Schofield
Revision Date: 6/7/2007 Citation for this information:
Leo G. Nico and Pamela J. Schofield. 2009. Oreochromis niloticus. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL.
<http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=468> Revision Date: 6/7/2007
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