Are those fish male or female??

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By Mariah Waller

Today when I went into work, I saw our farmer, Jesse, had put a fish tank with seven tilapia in it on his desk.  I wondered how me or anybody would be able to tell the difference between a female tilapia and a male tilapia, so I researched it online.

Jesse told Danielle and Rebekah that male tilapia have a rough surface or dent on their face and a female has a smooth surface.  When I researched it, I learned male tilapia grow bigger and yield a higher profit for aquacultures.

You can really tell the difference by looking at the genital papilla, which is an opening located right behind anus.  If the genital papilla has one single opening you are looking at a male tilapia.  If the genital papilla has two openings, you are looking at a female tilapia.  Tilapia need to stay with other tilapia and grow up together to breed.  If they grow up together they can form their own pairs as they reach sexual maturity.

I thought this discussion was interesting and a bit weird at the same time, because I just thought fish mate by bumping heads or something!  Before today, I had no idea how they mated and the differences between them.

Here are the websites I read.

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