Body side high, dorsal fin with more than 10 fin spines, caudal fin flat truncated or rounded, the side of the body and the caudal fin with a number of longitudinal; reticulated mottled.

Tilapia is native to Africa and is a tropical fish, and there are more than 100 species in this genus including subspecies***. Tilapia has a fast generation, high yield, mixed diet, less disease, strong fertility and other characteristics.

The main value of tilapia:

Nutritional evaluation of five species of tilapia, including Auria tilapia, red tilapia, Jifu tilapia, Nile tilapia, and Oniro tilapia, which have a more complete culture and breeding system at present.

The amino acid composition of the muscle proteins of the five species of tilapia was basically the same, totaling about 14.41%-17.07%. The highest content was all glutamic acid and the lowest was tryptophan. The ratio of essential amino acids to total amino acids was 50.45%-51.57%, and the ratio of flavor amino acids to total amino acids was 36.03%-37.06%. The composition of essential amino acids in tilapia muscle is relatively balanced and rich in content, which belongs to high-quality protein.

There was little difference between the fatty acid types in the muscles of the five species of tilapia, and the unsaturated fatty acid content was about 53.6% - 57.9%, which was significantly higher than the saturated fatty acid content. The total amount of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) were similar and greater than the total amount of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA). The muscle of species of tilapia also contains a large amount of DHA, among others.

Comparing the fatty acid content of muscle from different tilapia species, it was found that both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids were highest in Jifu tilapia and lowest in red tilapia.

The muscle protein and amino acid compositions of the five test tilapia species were relatively balanced and abundant, which were high-protein and high-quality fish, and their lysine content was the highest, with a score of 1.51-1.83, which could make up for the deficiency of cereal foods.

The five species of tilapia contained a large amount of unsaturated fatty acids, which were composed of PUFA≈SFA>MUFA.

The muscle fatty acid content of different tilapia species was found to be the highest in Jifu tilapia.