444:. Males are conspicuously coloured and aggregate in shallow waters, where they aggressively defend territories centred around their courtship bower. Females visit a number of males, laying batches of eggs with several, but rejecting many others. Females quickly pick up the eggs in their mouths and carry them for several weeks before releasing them to feed. Young are guarded in shallow weedy or rocky areas and may be re-admitted to their mother's mouth until they reach a length of about 15mm. In Lake Victoria, fishes were recorded as maturing at around 20 cm TL (total length), but in smaller water bodies, they might breed at about 16 cm TL. Females produce around 320–550 eggs, averaging around 2.5–4.5 cm in diameter. The bowers built by males are complex structures, with a raised central shallow saucer about 13–25 cm in diameter with a rim around 2 cm high, surrounded by 6–12 small pits, all contained within a larger pit, 30–90 cm in diameter, with a raised perimeter wall.
89:
473:
418:
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and competing non-native tilapias. However, populations continued to be reported from satellite lakes in the catchment which had remained unstocked with these exotics. More recently, in 2016, individuals were recorded on the rocky offshore island of Makobe in the
Tanzanian part of the lake.
337:, the mature males develop a long, branched genital tassel and construct complex display structures or bowers on the bottom mud, characterised by a raised central platform, in contrast to the simple saucer-shaped pits excavated by other
328:
with both spiny and soft rays, a broken lateral line, a single pair of nostrils and a single lower pharyngeal bone. Like other typical 'tilapias', it has relatively small closely packed teeth, numerous
347:
group. Courting males are typically black (sometimes with a blue-green sheen), with bright red margins to the dorsal and tailfins. These characteristics are shared with the allopatric species
393:
industry. These were known as 'Maradadi' among at least some of the fisherfolk on Lake
Victoria, when this species was still an important food fish on the lake.
550:
817:
910:
657:"Widespread colonisation of Tanzanian catchments by introduced Oreochromis tilapia fishes: the legacy from decades of deliberate introduction"
381:
distribution, resulting in an pale orange or whitish fish with irregular dark blotches on the fins and body. This kind of pattern is known in
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389:' cichlids), where it is again mainly expressed in females. It bears some resemblance to the 'red tilapia' artificially selected in the
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333:
and juveniles have a dark 'tilapia spot' at the base of the soft-rayed part of the dorsal fin. Like other members of the subgenus
830:
835:
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488:
The species is listed as near threatened by IUCN, with population declines attributed to the introduction of predatory
882:
861:
930:
731:
920:
744:
739:
88:
887:
307:
Despite its common name, it is not the only tilapia native to Lake
Victoria. The equally threatened
200:
822:
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also has a rather distinctive head profile, with a 'bump' just above the eyes, rather like the
374:
309:
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464:, while adults mainly feed on bottom sediments or biofilms on rocks and other hard surfaces.
377:. A small proportion of individuals of both sexes, although mainly females, show a disrupted
183:
874:
915:
848:
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8:
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401:'chambo' species (males of which lack red fin margins), but less strongly expressed in
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428:, as illustrated in Boulenger 1907: a specimen of the blotched 'maradadi' morph.
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592:
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140:
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Tilapiine fishes of the genera
Sarotherodon, Oreochromis, and Danakilia /
472:
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dominated the offshore habitats. Juveniles have been reported to feed on
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frequents shallow areas, both rocky and weedy, while the congeneric
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cichlid fishes from
African great lakes (notably the Lake Malawi '
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of 30 cm (12 in). This species is important to local
770:
726:
481:
341:. They also lack the enlarged jaws seen in mature males of the
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30:
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365:, and recently reported also from the upper part of the
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male showing full breeding dress, from a fishpond at
324:
has typical characteristics of a cichlid fish: long
902:
467:
633:. London: British Museum (Natural History).
549:: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
373:, and the source of its name, is its colour
369:catchment). An apparently unique feature of
513:Natugonza, V. & Musinguzi, L. (2022).
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29:
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911:IUCN Red List near threatened species
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524:IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
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296:and is potentially important in
280:, as well as being found in the
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655:Shechonge; et al. (2018).
585:
316:
1:
627:Trewavas, Ethelwynn. (1983).
496:
468:Current status of populations
313:has a similar distribution.
7:
926:Freshwater fish of Tanzania
484:, Tanzania in January 2017.
300:. It is also found in the
288:. This species can reach a
10:
947:
447:
256:, is a species of African
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670:10.1007/s10750-018-3641-9
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189:
182:
84:Scientific classification
82:
60:
51:
37:
28:
23:
639:10.5962/bhl.title.123198
595:; Pauly, Daniel (eds.).
567:; Pauly, Daniel (eds.).
452:In its natural habitat,
344:Oreochromis mossambicus
278:Lake Bisina (Salisbury)
235:Sarotherodon variabilis
931:Fish described in 1906
732:oreochromis-variabilis
703:Oreochromis variabilis
599:Oreochromis esculentus
571:Oreochromis variabilis
517:Oreochromis variabilis
485:
478:Oreochromis variabilis
429:
422:Oreochromis variabilis
395:Oreochromis variabilis
322:Oreochromis variabilis
249:Oreochromis variabilis
193:Oreochromis variabilis
921:Fish of Lake Victoria
609:. April 2017 version.
581:. April 2013 version.
475:
432:Like all other known
420:
227:Nyasalapia variabilis
413:Reproductive biology
294:commercial fisheries
531:: e.T15458A47182212
54:Conservation status
41:, male, from Makobe
486:
430:
426:Tilapia variabilis
424:: the holotype of
219:Tilapia variabilis
175:O. variabilis
898:
897:
870:Open Tree of Life
695:Taxon identifiers
245:
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239:
238:(Boulenger, 1906)
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230:(Boulenger, 1906)
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24:Victoria tilapia
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254:Victoria tilapia
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355:catchment) and
353:Lake Tanganyika
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290:standard length
286:Murchison Falls
222:Boulenger, 1906
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69:Near Threatened
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16:Species of fish
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458:O. esculentus
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454:O. variabilis
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438:O. variabilis
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407:O. malagarasi
404:
403:O. rukwaensis
400:
396:
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388:
384:
383:haplochromine
380:
376:
372:
371:O. variabilis
368:
364:
360:
359:
358:O. rukwaensis
354:
350:
349:O. malagarasi
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310:O. esculentus
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282:Victoria Nile
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262:Lake Victoria
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184:Binomial name
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45:Lake Victoria
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39:O. variabilis
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545:cite journal
533:. Retrieved
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442:mouthbrooder
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375:polymorphism
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141:Cichliformes
38:
18:
916:Oreochromis
805:iNaturalist
434:Oreochromis
399:Lake Malawi
391:aquaculture
367:Great Ruaha
339:Oreochromis
331:gill rakers
317:Description
298:aquaculture
274:Lake Kwania
266:tributaries
162:Oreochromis
47:, Tanzania
905:Categories
497:References
490:Nile perch
363:Lake Rukwa
335:Nyasalapia
326:dorsal fin
270:Lake Kyoga
260:native to
43:Island in
679:0018-8158
476:Probable
201:Boulenger
169:Species:
151:Cichlidae
107:Kingdom:
101:Eukaryota
823:10150984
779:FishBase
718:Q2258902
712:Wikidata
606:FishBase
578:FishBase
535:3 August
462:plankton
302:aquarium
264:and its
210:Synonyms
147:Family:
121:Chordata
117:Phylum:
111:Animalia
97:Domain:
74:IUCN 3.1
888:1018485
797:2372311
448:Ecology
379:melanin
304:trade.
258:cichlid
203:, 1906)
157:Genus:
137:Order:
127:Class:
72: (
875:688559
862:160745
836:649585
810:107899
771:995043
745:708418
727:ARKive
677:
482:Njombe
284:above
276:, and
252:, the
883:WoRMS
849:15458
818:IRMNG
758:6SSSZ
387:mbuna
857:NCBI
844:IUCN
831:ITIS
792:GBIF
784:1430
740:BOLD
675:ISSN
551:link
537:2022
529:2022
405:and
766:EoL
753:CoL
665:doi
635:doi
907::
885::
872::
859::
846::
833::
820::
807::
794::
781::
768::
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742::
729::
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673:.
663:.
659:.
647:^
615:^
603:.
575:.
547:}}
543:{{
527:.
521:.
505:^
436:,
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272:,
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681:.
667::
641:.
637::
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539:.
519:"
515:"
361:(
351:(
199:(
76:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
