Tilapia shows how fathers should be
FATHERS in this world are normally protective of their children and this appears to be a natural trait of one particular species of tilapia now being bred in the country – the male Tilapia Gloria – and shows how!
The female Tilapia Gloria’s duty and responsibility is mainly to produce the eggs but leaves it to the “father” tilapia to protect and look after the eggs against predators. How? By keeping them inside its mouth for 21 days!
Dr. Westly Rosario, chief of the National Integrated Fisheries Development Technology Center-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in this city, described to the KBP forum last Thursday the natural instinct of the male Tilapia Gloria.
Rosario said this tilapia known as black-chin tilapia was named Gloria by fishermen in brackishwater areas of Bataan. It is very prolific and can multiply easily in aquaria. This kind of tilapia is small, whitish and has mole and its eggs are very small.
“Usually, the mother takes care so much of her babies. But in this case, it’s the other way around. It’s the male tilapia that takes care of the eggs,” he said.
No one knows who gave this name to this fish, he added, but the name Gloria might have been used as it became a distinguishing mark of former President Gloria Arroyo and now Pampanga congresswoman who has a mole on her face.
He said as soon as the eggs are hatched, the male tilapia would put them inside its mouth, let them stay there for 21 days. Even they are already hatched, the “father” tilapia would still protect them,” Rosario said added.
He suspects that this tilapia might have been brought to the country as aquarium fish from Africa, and no one knows how it was brought to Pangasinan where it is sold in Dagupan market for P20 per kilogram.
It is edible for human consumption but considered a pest because it competes with the food of bangus in ponds, he said.
The moment the hatchlings could already swim, the father Tilapia Gloria would release them but still it would stay around their vicinity as their protector against predators like other fish and humans, Rosario added.
Once there are predators, their “father” would place them again in its mouth, he said.
“Of all the bad things about Tilapia Gloria, however being fatherly is its best trait,” he said. (Tita Roces)
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