The earliest evidence of fish culture of sorts purportedly comes from ancient Egypt where fish often has a scared as well as prosaic role in society. Tilapia is well-known as a symbol of rebirth in Egyptian art and is in addition associated with Hathor.
A bas-relief found on an ancient Egyptian tomb show tilapia being fished out of an article pond, presumably a drainable one. It is evidence that tilapia culture was already practiced in Egypt about 250 BC.
The first trials of tilapia culture were recorded in Kenya in the 1920s.
Global tilapia farming until the 1940s was marked by experimental pond cultures in Africa and some commercial activity in Asia. Indonesia used O. mossambicus in saltwater ponds and rice field, providing protein for its citizens during the Second World War.
Tilapia culture was gradually expanding worldwide during the period from 1970 to 1990.
Fish of tilapia in history
