Tilapia, Nile Finnafish

Photo: 

Species:

Notes: 
After further inspection they were niles

Comments

SomewhereDownstream's picture

I tried to catch these in Florida and failed- miserably. Nice fish.

SomewhereDownstream

Dr Flathead's picture

Finnafish, what makes you positive this is a Mozambique?  To me it looks like a Blue Tilapia.  Was it caught in Florida?

The blues here don't bite, Mozambiques collected in the area and the fish matched the phenotype. More colorful and the shape of it's head.

We caught severeal this day and they all looked weird. Not wuite like blue or mozambique to be honest. I think maybe there was some mixed genetics in this pond. Stupid exotics. They all look different from the blues I usually see.

Dr Flathead's picture

I've noticed the Blues have lots of different looks.  Maybe its male and female or time of year, could be the living conditions, too.  And they very well could be mixed up as well.  Im not really sure if Tilapia can hybridize though...

Of tilapia are common near the coasts it seems. Did you get ahold of any big blues? I can never get them to bite!
Dr Flathead's picture

It seems like a pretty common thing with people saying these Blues arent easy to catch on hook and line.  Especially when there spawning and sitting on their nests.  That being said, we caught them out of multiple locations on a trip to Florida in December 2011.  All different sizes from dinks to more than a pound.  

 

Not saying that I'm a Tilapia expert or anything like that.  I live on the arctic tundra afterall.  But your fish here doesnt look anything like a Mozambique to me.  Its mouth is way too small.  And its coloring is way off.  I'd call it a pretty cookie cutter Blue Tilapia.  Check out the species section here on this site.  Its a great place to ID stuff.  Look in the Misc Exotics section and compare your pic here to other pics posted.  There are tons of Blue Tilapia pics and a handful of Mozambique in there.  I think you'll see what I'm talking about.