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Tilapia (genus)

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Tribe
  
Tilapiini

Class
  
Actinopterygii

Higher classification
  
Tilapiine cichlid

Subfamily
  
Pseudocrenilabrinae

Phylum
  
Chordata

Scientific name
  
tilapia

Order
  
Perciformes

Rank
  
genus

Tilapia (genus) wwwfishbaseorgimagesthumbnailsjpgtnTibusm0jpg

Lower classifications
  
Heterotilapia buttikoferi, Tilapia zillii, Spotted tilapia, Coptodon snyderae, Coelotilapia joka

Tilapia is a genus of cichlid fishes endemic to freshwater habitats in Southern Africa. In the past this was a very large genus including all species with the common name tilapia, but today the vast majority are placed in other genera.

Species and taxonomy

In the past, Oreochromis and Sarotherodon were retained in the genus Tilapia, but these are treated as separate genera by all recent authorities. Even with this more restricted Tilapia, there were indications that the taxonomic treatment was problematic, and in 2013 a review of the group resulted in the removal of most "Tilapia" species to the genera Coelotilapia, Coptodon, Heterotilapia, Paracoptodon and Pelmatolapia. With these as separate genera, only four species remain in Tilapia:

  • Tilapia baloni Trewavas & D. J. Stewart, 1975
  • Tilapia guinasana Trewavas, 1936 (Otjikoto tilapia)
  • Tilapia ruweti (Poll & Thys van den Audenaerde, 1965) (Okavango tilapia)
  • Tilapia sparrmanii A. Smith, 1840 (Banded tilapia)

    • Temporarily retained here, but belonging elsewhere:

  • "Tilapia" brevimanus Boulenger, 1911 – closer to "Steatocranus" irvinei (itself not related to the remaining Steatocranus) and Gobiocichla.
  • "Tilapia" busumana (Günther, 1903) – closer to "Steatocranus" irvinei (itself not related to the remaining Steatocranus) and Gobiocichla.
  • "Tilapia" pra Dunz & Schliewen, 2010 – closer to "Steatocranus" irvinei (itself not related to the remaining Steatocranus) and Gobiocichla.

    • References

    Tilapia (genus) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA