the.com/tilapia
the fish so agreeable it eats anything and asks no questions about flavor
means A mild-flavored freshwater fish, widely farmed for its cheap, fast-growing, eat-anything resilience.
from The name was coined in the 19th century by a naturalist describing the genus; the most-cited story is that it bends the Tswana word 'thiape' meaning fish into a Latin-looking form, though some suspect a Greek borrowing — either way, a scientist's invented label that swam into everyday English.
- ancient eats
- Egyptians farmed it over 4,000 years ago
- breeding machine
- females incubate eggs inside their own mouths
- invasive streak
- escapees wreck ecosystems on multiple continents
- hieroglyph fame
- its symbol meant rebirth and the sun
- blank canvas
- tastes like whatever you cook it with
for instance
lake victoria tilapia — nile perch invasion decimated native tilapia species in east africa's largest lake since 1954
aquaculture in china — produces over 1.5 million tons annually, more than 50% of global tilapia farming