Nile tilapia: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the Nile tilapia lives – recorded in 2 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Oreochromis niloticus
Group	Bony fish
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	2 countries
Continents	Africa, South America
Class	Ray-finned fish
Order	Blenniiformes
Family	Cichlidae

Where does the Nile tilapia live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the Nile tilapia in 2 countries and territories across Africa and South America. Wikidata lists it as endemic to Kenya. Wikidata gives its range as: Brazil, Parauapebas.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the Nile tilapia endangered?

The Nile tilapia’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the Nile tilapia?

The Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is a ray-finned fish in the order Blenniiformes and the family Cichlidae, genus Oreochromis. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the Nile tilapia

The Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is a species of tilapia, a cichlid occurring naturally in parts of Africa (such as its namesake Nile River) and the Levant, though numerous introduced populations exist outside its natural range. This current wide range is caused by its high commercial value as a food fish, where it is marketed as mango fish (not to be confused with the mango tilapia, or Sarotherodon galilaeus), nilotica, or boulti, along with many other names, both local and foreign. Due to its value, the Nile tilapia is widely aquacultured across the world due to its hardiness and a mode of reproduction conducive to mass rearing, namely mouthbrooding, and various attempts have been made to increase production yields, including hybridization with other tilapias.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Nile tilapia (revision 1376995376), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q311170 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).