Oreochromis

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Superclassis/Classis: Actinopterygii
Classis/Subclassis: Actinopteri
Subclassis/Infraclassis: Neopterygii
Infraclassis: Teleostei
Megacohors: Osteoglossocephalai
Supercohors: Clupeocephala
Cohors: Euteleosteomorpha
Subcohors: Neoteleostei
Infracohors: Eurypterygia
Sectio: Ctenosquamata
Subsectio: Acanthomorphata
Divisio/Superordo: Acanthopterygii
Subdivisio: Percomorphaceae
Series: Ovalentaria
Superordo: Cichlomorphae
Ordo: Cichliformes

Familia: Cichlidae
Subfamilia: Pseudocrenilabrinae
Tribus: Oreochromini
Genus: Oreochromis
Species (34): O. amphimelas – O. andersonii – O. angolensis – O. aureus – O. chungruruensis – O. esculentus – †O. harrisae – O. hunteri – O. ismailiaensis – O. jipe – O. karomo – O. karongae – O. korogwe – O. lepidurus – O. leucostictus – O. lidole – O. macrochir – O. malagarasi – O. mortimeri – O. mossambicus – O. mweruensis – O. niloticus – O. pangani – O. placidus – O. rukwaensis – O. saka – O. salinicola – O. schwebischi – O. shiranus – O. spilurus – O. squamipinnis – O. tanganicae – O. upembae – O. urolepis – O. variabilis
Name

Oreochromis Günther, 1889: 70

Type species: Oreochromis hunteri Günther, 1889
Type by monotypy
Gender: masculine

References

Günther, A. 1889: On some fishes from Kilima-Njaro District. Proceedings of the General Meetings for Scientific Business of the Zoological Society of London, 1889 (1): 70–72, Pl. 8. BHL
Thys van den Audenaerde, D.F.E. 1969: An annotated bibliography of Tilapia (Pisces, Cichlidae). Documentation Zoologique / Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale No. 14: i-xl + 1-406. [Date of this reference is 1969 not 1968 per the authoritative Catalog of Fishes]

Links

ION
Nomenclator Zoologicus
Oreochromis species list in FishBase,
Froese, R. & Pauly, D. (eds.) 2024. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication, www.fishbase.org, version 02/2024.
Oreochromis and its species (including synonyms) in Catalog of Fishes, Eschmeyer, W.N., Fricke, R. & van der Laan, R. (eds.) 2024. Catalog of Fishes electronic version.
ITIS

Vernacular names
English: blue tilapias
ไทย: สกุลปลานิล

Oreochromis niloticus

Oreochromis niloticus

Oreochromis is a large genus of oreochromine cichlids, fishes endemic to Africa and the Middle East. A few species from this genus have been introduced far outside their native range and are important in aquaculture. Many others have very small ranges; some are seriously threatened, and O. ismailiaensis and O. lidole possibly are extinct.[1] Although Oreochromis primarily are freshwater fish of rivers, lakes and similar habitats, several species can also thrive in brackish waters and some even survive in hypersaline conditions with a salinity that far surpasses that of seawater.[1] In addition to overfishing and habitat loss, some of the more localized species are threatened by the introduction of other, more widespread Oreochromis species into their ranges. This is because they—in addition to competing for the local resources—often are able to hybridize.[1]

Oreochromis are fairly robust fish, and medium–small to very large cichlids that can reach up to 9.4–61 cm (4–24 in) in total length depending on the exact species.[2]
Taxonomy

Species in this genus, as well as those in several other oreochromine and tilapiine genera, share the common name "tilapia" and historically most were included in the genus Tilapia.[1]

Oreochromis contains more than 30 species, and several undescribed forms exist. Judging from mtDNA sequence analysis, several clades seem to exist. Research is hampered because hybridization runs rampant in these fishes, which confounds mtDNA data (Wami tilapia is an example), and the fast speed of evolution makes choice of appropriate nuclear DNA sequences difficult.[3] A comprehensive genetic study that included almost all the species, as well as the closely related Alcolapia, found that Oreochromis as currently defined is paraphyletic. For example, two Oreochromis species (O. amphimelas and O. esculentus) appear closer to Alcolapia than the remaining Oreochromis, and five other Oreochromis species (O. angolensis, O. lepidurus, O. niloticus, O. schwebischi and O. upembae) appear to be as distant from the "core" Oreochromis as they are from Alcolapia.[1] A potential solution is to merge Alcolapia into Oreochromis,[1] as done by Catalog of Fishes.[4]
Species

The 37 recognized species in this genus are:[2][5]

Oreochromis alcalica (Hilgendorf, 1905) (common Natron tilapia)
Oreochromis amphimelas (Hilgendorf, 1905)
Oreochromis andersonii (Castelnau, 1861) (three-spotted tilapia)
Oreochromis angolensis (Trewavas, 1973)
Oreochromis aureus (Steindachner, 1864) (blue tilapia)
Oreochromis chungruruensis (C. G. E. Ahl, 1924)
Oreochromis esculentus (M. Graham, 1928) (Singida tilapia)

Oreochromis grahami (Boulenger, 1912) (Magadi tilapia)
Oreochromis hunteri Günther, 1889 (Lake Chala tilapia)
Oreochromis ismailiaensis Mekkawy, 1995
Oreochromis jipe (R. H. Lowe, 1955) (Jipe tilapia)
Oreochromis karomo (Poll, 1948) (karomo)
Oreochromis karongae (Trewavas, 1941)
Oreochromis korogwe (R. H. Lowe, 1955) (Korogwe tilapia)

Oreochromis latilabris (Seegers & Tichy, 1999) (wide-lipped Natron tilapia)
Oreochromis lepidurus (Boulenger, 1899)
Oreochromis leucostictus (Trewavas, 1933)
Oreochromis lidole (Trewavas, 1941)
Oreochromis macrochir (Boulenger, 1912) (longfin tilapia)
Oreochromis malagarasi Trewavas, 1983 (Malagarasi tilapia)
Oreochromis mortimeri (Trewavas, 1966) (Kariba tilapia)

Oreochromis mossambicus (W. K. H. Peters, 1852) (Mozambique tilapia)
Oreochromis mweruensis Trewavas, 1983
Oreochromis ndalalani (Seegers & Tichy, 1999) (narrow-mouthed Natron tilapia)
Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Nile tilapia)
Oreochromis placidus (Trewavas, 1941)
Oreochromis placidus placidus (Trewavas, 1941) (black tilapia)
Oreochromis placidus ruvumae (Trewavas, 1966)

Oreochromis rukwaensis (Hilgendorf & Pappenheim, 1903) (Lake Rukwa tilapia)
Oreochromis saka (R. H. Lowe, 1953)
Oreochromis salinicola (Poll, 1948)
Oreochromis schwebischi (Sauvage, 1884)
Oreochromis shiranus Boulenger, 1897
Oreochromis shiranus chilwae (Trewavas, 1966) (Chilwa tilapia)
Oreochromis shiranus shiranus Boulenger, 1897
Oreochromis spilurus (Günther, 1894)
Oreochromis spilurus niger (Günther, 1894) (Athi River tilapia)
Oreochromis spilurus percivali (Boulenger, 1912) (Buffalo Springs tilapia)
Oreochromis spilurus spilurus (Günther, 1894) (Sabaki tilapia)
Oreochromis squamipinnis (Günther, 1864)
Oreochromis tanganicae (Günther, 1894)
Oreochromis upembae (Thys van den Audenaerde, 1964)
Oreochromis urolepis (Norman, 1922)
Oreochromis urolepis hornorum (Trewavas, 1966) (Wami tilapia)
Oreochromis urolepis urolepis (Norman, 1922) (Rufigi tilapia)
Oreochromis variabilis (Boulenger, 1906) (Victoria tilapia)

References

Ford, A.G.P.; et al. (2019). "Molecular phylogeny of Oreochromis (Cichlidae: Oreochromini) reveals mito-nuclear discordance and multiple colonisation of adverse aquatic environments" (PDF). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 136: 215–226. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2019.04.008. PMID 30974200.
Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2019). Species of Oreochromis in FishBase. September 2019 version.
Nagl, Sandra; Tichy, Herbert; Mayer, Werner E.; Samonte, Irene E.; McAndrew, Brendan J. & Klein, Jan (2001): Classification and Phylogenetic Relationships of African Tilapiine Fishes Inferred from Mitochondrial DNA Sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 20(3): 361–374. doi:10.1006/mpev.2001.0979
Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Oreochromis". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
"Oreochromis". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.