Can anyone ID this Tilapia ?

[aussiemonsters]

Can anyone ID this Tilapia common in Queensland Australia.
Grow to 26 inches + mouthbrooder, males dig broodpits in substrate females hold eggs/fry.

Thanks
Steve.

 

[tuffy_rana]

Mozambique mouthbrooder (Oreochromis mossambicus) common in alot of qld lakes and resevoirs

 

[aussiemonsters]

That is what they are described as by DPI&f but pics and descriptions of O. mossambicus I have seen in various references differ somewhat to these fish, some look nothing like them ie. Fishbase.
Steve

 

[tuffy_rana]

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://cms.jcu.edu.au/idc/groups/public/documents/presentation/jcudev_014130~5.3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://cms.jcu.edu.au/discovernature/fish/JCUDEV_014130&h=555&w=360&sz=247&tbnid=3bWLGu-R7cRV-M:&tbnh=279&tbnw=181&prev=/images%3Fq%3DOreochromis%2Bmossambicus%2Bpics&hl=en&usg=__T-FBiu30guh8FGAuEb6wWxHDDw4=&ei=PWpZS9P4DdigkQXN3bSkAg&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=3&ct=image&ved=0CAgQ9QEwAg


http://www.google.com.au/imgres?img...mage_result&resnum=4&ct=image&ved=0CA0Q9QEwAw

i see what you mean there are even some pics with fish that look pink. possibly some other member of the Oreochromis family that the dpi isnt aware of. maybe there was more than one species released? they do range from port douglas the the nsw border......

 

[aussiemonsters]

That is why I have posted these pics here, Allan Webb's pics and the pics used by DPI&f look different to the references. The DPI and some universities have been doing DNA research for some time but have not published any results. To be honest I found going through the references very confusing. A hybrid maybe ?

 

[BC in SK]

I think they look most like the blue tilapia, Oreochromis aureus , though I sort of suspect a cross. Crosses of Oreochromis species are very commonly used in aquaculture and most likely these fish would have had aquaculture origins. O. mosambicus has lost favour in modern aquaculture because it does not have the same growth rate as others such as O. niliticus (nile tilapia). Though there are often some genes from O. mosambicus still present because of past crosses. One of the most common crosses in modern aquaculture is an O. niloticus X O. aureus cross. Especially the fish on the right, it seems to have a little bit of the look and body shape of a nile tilapia.

 

[aussiemonsters]

Thanks for the reply BC. These fish grow fast 1ft plus in 1 year 2ft plus in 3years.
I think they are a hybrid will be interesting to see DNA results.

 

[blackghostuk]

The extended mouth suggests a hybrid, as no true Tilapiine species has this mouth. O. mossambicus is the nearest looking, so I reckon its an O. mossambicus hybrid.
O. aureus, O. machrochir, O. mossambicus, O. niloticus niloticus and O. urolepis honorum are listed by Fishbase as being present in Australia. Because of the high body, I suspect mossambicus X aureus, although Sarotherodon orientalis could also be possible. Sarotherodon are paternal mouthbrooders, but anything's possible with a hybrid.

 

[aussiemonsters]

Another pic of one from a different location.
Not a good pic sorry the tail has a red border.

 

[LOCO_LOCO]

Mozambique mouth-brooder