What's the story with tilapia?

[Orangepeel]

Two or three years ago I never heard of it. Now, it's everywhere. Is it some sort of frankenfish created in a lab? Did somebody just discover how to raise it cheaply? Was it dropped into the ocean by aliens?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

1. Probably just latched on to when the Orange Roughy supply

started being overfished.

[Orangepeel]

4. I hope that's it

I had just put a big forkful in my mouth and then I thought, "uh oh. why did this stuff seem to suddenly appear in the food supply?"

[RebelOne]

13. But I still see Orange Roughy in the stores.

In fact, I bought some last week.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

29. They're threatened due to overfishing

They don't begin to reproduce until they're between 20-40 years old.

Check out this article:
http://www.terranature.org/orange_roughy.htm

[redwitch]

2. It is delicious.

Very delicate. Damn, now I'm hungry. I had cheese and crackers for dinner. Guess that wasn't enough. Pretty sure there is no yummy tilapia in the fridge though.

[Orangepeel]

3. I had it for dinner

that's what prompted the question. It's just weird that it didn't seem to be common and then its all over.

[Fleshdancer]

5. freaky

I was asking myself that very question today at the grocery store. I was searching for halibut (which they didn't have) but found a lot of tilapia. I had never heard of it 4 yrs ago. :shrug: It's good though.

[Orangepeel]

hi, Gloria!

GTMA!

[Orangepeel]

9. on edit: but they don't post twice!

:dunce:

[AngryAmish]

23. Why do people fish in New jersey?

For the halibut.

[MaggieSwanson]

6. OK, you made me curious. Here's what I found out...

from the "AMERICAN TILAPIA ASSOCIATION"

Tilapia, several species and their hybrids of Oreochromis, are the second most important group of farm raised fish in the world. Tilapia farming and consumption are rapidly increasing in the US. Tilapia is now the sixth most popular seafood consumed in the United States. The ATA is dedicated to the development of a profitable and sustainable industry. Our member producers and scientists wish to protect the aquatic environment while providing high quality fresh fish to the American consumer.

>snip<

OVERVIEW The objective of the American Tilapia Association is to support and facilitate the growth of Tilapia production and consumption within the United States. We are a non-profit organization with goals in education, member information and networking, government interactions and support for research. We welcome the contributions of any information on Tilapia culture, marketing and development from around the world for inclusion in our regular newsletters.

http://ag.arizona.edu/azaqua/ata.html

Apparently they have been very succcessful in achieving their objectives.

[Orangepeel]

7. so what happened is that they got an association?

huh! maybe halibut needs an association! :-)

Thanks!

[MaggieSwanson]

10. 'Zactly. n/t

[SofaKingLiberal]

8. Tilapia Info.

http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/alt-ag/tilapia.htm

[EstimatedProphet]

11. Tilapia originally come from Africa

They are perhaps the easiest finfish to raise, which accounts for the distribution going on now. They're tolerant to a lot of water conditions that are hard on other fish, such as low oxygen, which is very common in the south in summer months. Additionally they are very fecund and will produce a lot of offspring, so it is easy to raise a lot of them from a small stocking population. Their biggest drawback is that they need very warm water (>80°) to grow, so their range for potential growth areas is limited. This is also a positive aspect though, since it assures that they will not be able to establish self-reproducing populations outside a very small area in the US, and therefore won't become an invasive species if they escape from fish farms.

[asthmaticeog]

16. Other drawbacks:

They taste muddy and they're WAY easy to overcook. It's rubbish fish.

[EstimatedProphet]

18. I think you got hold of some bad tilapia!

When I've had them they were very light and flaky.
I've had them both store-bought and fresh-caught, and liked them either way.

[asthmaticeog]

19. Perhaps I'll have to try some from a different market, then.

Though it's a brilliant place for everything else, the West Side Market's fishmongers are maybe a little hinky.

[EstimatedProphet]

22. It may have just been a bad batch too, you never know

The muddy flavor is caused by blue-green algae. Maybe there was a bad outbreak of it in that pond or something...

[Left Is Write]

28. I must have too.

I bought some that was terrible.

[pitohui]

21. i thought they'd been invasive in california

it was a few years back, but wasn't botulism-contaminated tilapia escaped into california lakes the cause of the big brown pelican die-off they had in the 90s

anyone remember this?

do ya'll farm fish in california? maybe the pelicans were feeding at fish farms? hmm, don't remember well enough any more

[mykpart]

12. A guy from Louisiana told me

that Tilapia used to be considered trash fish and was really cheap, kinda like flank steak was before fajitas became popular. I'm not much of a seafood person, though.

[progmom]

14. my hawaiian friend told me the same thing

:)

[GumboYaYa]

15. Tilapia is very similar to the native Redfish of the Gulf.

Tilapia began replacing Redfish on menus in Louisiana in the early 90's, coinciding with the stringent restrictions that had been placed on commercial fishing of Redfish.

[Xithras]

17. They're cheap and easy to raise.

That's about it. It's not a frankenfish, but more akin to farm raised salmon. Since the real thing is getting harder to find in commercial quantities, we're raising our own in tanks and pens. None of the tilapia you buy is wild raised, but instead is grown on a fish farm somewhere.

[momophile]

20. my husband from Hawai'i...

agrees that they are rubbish fish and he laughs at the idea of people eating them.

[davsand]

24. Baked with Italian seasonings and Parmesan

I don't care if it IS seen as a "trash" fish in some places, in my house it is seen as durn good eating. It is mild, light and easy to work with.

I have YET to find a way to cook it that is less than tasty, but the way I described in the title is one of my favorites. Garlic, Italian seasonings and Parmesan. It is low cal and about as tasty as it gets, IMO.




Laura

[Redleg]

26. I enjoy them cooked that way...

I have recently started to pan fry them for 1 1/2 minutes per side. Sprinkle with cajun seasoning or lemon pepper. Yum yum and easy to prepare.

[yellowcanine]

25. Cichlid family, fresh water fish native to Africa. Believed to be the

fish that St. Peter and his buddies were catching in the Sea of Galilee. There are a number of species but the main one used for fish farming comes from the Nile River I believe.

[Taverner]

27. Yummy

put on a cayenne rub with cumin, oregano and garlic and bake

Yum

[Squatch]

30. It's the perfect aquaculture fish...

I turns 90% of the food it eats into flesh. So, for every pound of food you give it, it makes 14.5 ounces of eadible flesh.