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[Killietalk] Nile Perch




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Message: 9
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2004 01:21:49 EDT
From: Sandy1238 at aol_com
Subject: [Killietalk] Lake Victoria Perch?
To: KillieTalk at AKA_Org

Hi All,
This fish is for sale at a local supermarket. Anyone know about this fish?
Regards,
Sandy


The infamous "Nile Perch." Responsible for destroying the cichlid habitats in Lake Victoria and leading to the extinction of numerous cichlid species. Also, it's proven to be an environmental disaster as well in the lake - cichlids ate the algae, the perch ate all the cichlids, no more algae consumers, eutrophication, bleh. Enormous swarms of lake flies you can see from sattelite photos because no larvae-eating cichlids left, etc. etc.

They were introduced to the lake in the 1950's to provide a convenient industry for the natives. It took two introductions till they took, and when they did, their population exploded. Plus, it turns out that cichlids were a common food source then and the typical way of preserving them was to dry them. The perch doesn't lend itself to that - flesh is too oily I guess, so it needs to be smoked, which led to massive deforestation around the lake, erosion problems, etc.

I've had cooked perch - it's o.k. but nothing special. I much prefer tilapia :-)

Matt

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