Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Lates niloti­cus (Nile perch) is wide­spread through­out the Ethiopian Re­gion of Africa, oc­cur­ring com­monly in all major river basins in­clud­ing Nile, Chad, Niger, Sene­gal and Volta. The nilotic pop­u­la­tion pen­e­trates north­wards well into the ge­o­graph­i­cal lim­its of the Mediter­ranean Re­gion and is pre­sent in the wa­ters of Lake Mar­i­out sit­u­ated in the Nile Delta. South­wards the dis­tri­b­u­tion in­cludes parts of the Congo Basin. The most com­mon place to find the Nile perch is in Lake Vic­to­ria where the species was in­tro­duced in 1962. (Hop­son, 1972)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • introduced
• ethiopian
  • introduced
  • native

Habi­tat

Nile perch are found in many dif­fer­ent types of fresh water. They pre­fer warm, trop­i­cal wa­ters (27°N – 7°S) where they grow to large sizes and occur in high den­si­ties. Adult Nile perch oc­cupy all habi­tats in lakes and rivers (10-60 m in depth) where there is enough oxy­gen with the ex­cep­tion of rocks, swamps, and the pelagic zone. Small ju­ve­niles are re­stricted to shal­low near-shore en­vi­ron­ments (Luna, 2002; Queens­land Gov­ern­ment, 2002). (Fish­Base, 2004; Queens­land De­part­ment of Pri­mary In­dus­tries and Fish­eries, 2004)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• freshwater

• Aquatic Biomes
• lakes and ponds
• rivers and streams

• Wetlands
• marsh

• Range depth

  0 to 60 m

  0.00 to 196.85 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Nile perch are sil­ver in color with a blue tinge. They have a dis­tinc­tive dark black eye with a bright yel­low outer ring. Nile perch are usu­ally seen around 2-4 kg, but have been caught and seen at sizes up to 200 kg (the largest at 232 kg). They av­er­age around 85-100 cm but can grow to 193 cm. The fe­males are gen­er­ally larger than males. The pre­op­er­cle and pre-or­bital bones are armed with spines, with a large spine on the free edge of the op­er­cu­lum. (Fish­Base, 2004; Queens­land De­part­ment of Pri­mary In­dus­tries and Fish­eries, 2004)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• female larger

• Range mass

  232 (high) kg

  511.01 (high) lb

• Average mass

  2-4 kg

  lb

• Range length

  193 (high) cm

  75.98 (high) in

• Average length

  85-100 cm

  in

De­vel­op­ment

The growth of the Nile perch is very fast dur­ing the first year. The rate then de­creases dur­ing the sec­ond, third, fourth and fifth years. (Acere, 1984)

Re­pro­duc­tion

Nile perch are sex­u­ally di­mor­phic. The male has only anal and uro­gen­tial open­ings just an­te­rior to the anal fin, whereas the fe­male has a gen­i­tal ori­fice sep­a­rate from the uri­nary open­ing. They be­come sex­u­ally ma­ture at the age of 3 years. Males dom­i­nate the sex ratio up to 80 cm TL, while the fe­males are dom­i­nate at 80 cm TL and above (Asila and Ogari, 1988). Ovu­la­tion takes place in the spring with the ris­ing water tem­per­a­ture. Spawn­ing is usu­ally done in shel­tered areas, but can also occur in open wa­ters. (Hop­son, 1972)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
  • external
• oviparous

• Breeding season

  Breeding peaks from March to June.

• Range number of offspring

  3,000,000 to 15,000,000

• Average number of offspring

  9,000,000

• Average time to hatching

  20 hours

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  3 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
  Sex: female

  912 days

  AnAge

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  3 years

• Parental Investment
• no parental involvement

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Nile perch live up to the age of 16 years. There is a higher mor­tal­ity rate for males than fe­males. (Hop­son, 1972)

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  16 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  7.8 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

• Key Behaviors
• natatorial
• motile

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

• Perception Channels
• tactile
• chemical

Food Habits

The diet of Nile perch con­sists of fishes, in­sects, crus­tacea and mol­lusks. The type of prey in­gested by the preda­tor de­pends on the preda­tor size, prey avail­abil­ity and abun­dance within a given habi­tat (Ogari, 1984). Ju­ve­nile Nile perch feed on cope­pods, prawns in the genus Carid­ina, fish fry, small gas­tropods, and bi­valves. As the fish ma­tures and moves to greater depths hap­lochromine ci­ch­lids con­sti­tute over 95% of their food con­sump­tion. Oc­ca­sional items found in the Nile perch's diet in­clude smaller fish in the gen­era Bar­bus, Clar­ias, Hap­lochromis, Lates, Or­e­ichromis, and Xen­oclar­ias. Be­sides crus­tacean zoo­plank­ton, in­ver­te­brate prey in­cludes snails, clams, and in­sects (odonate lar­vae, aquatic Hemiptera, mayflies in the genus Povilla, and lar­vae of phan­tom midges (Chaoborus). Fish in the genus Ras­tri­neobola are very com­mon in the diet in terms of oc­cur­rence, and are sec­ond to hap­lochromines (Acere, 1985). As Nile perch grow larger, they take larger prey. Nile perch less than 80 cm tend to feed on smaller fishes than those greater than 80 cm. This demon­strates that the preda­tor is ca­pa­ble of shift­ing to other sizes of prey when more suit­able sizes be­come scarce (Ogutu-Ohwayo, 1984). (Acere, 1984; Ogari, 1984; Ogutu-Ohwayo, 1984)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • piscivore

• Animal Foods
• fish
• insects
• mollusks
• aquatic crustaceans
• zooplankton

Ecosys­tem Roles

The Nile perch acts as a major preda­tor in its na­tive and in­tro­duced habi­tats.

Nile perch have been ob­served with sev­eral dif­fer­ent kinds of par­a­sites, Lernea (re­gion after the op­er­cu­lum), ar­guilids (in the gills), and var­i­ous ne­ma­todes (through­out the body). (Acere, 1984)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

The Nile perch has yielded an in­crease in total fish­ery, and fish­ery-re­lated em­ploy­ment has in­creased dra­mat­i­cally. Since the in­crease of Nile perch, larger fac­tory fish­ing com­pa­nies have thrived greatly. (Kitchel and Schindler, 1997)

• Positive Impacts
• food

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

The in­tro­duc­tion of the Nile Perch to Lake Vic­to­ria has caused se­ri­ous eco­log­i­cal prob­lems. The rich­ness and di­ver­sity of en­demic ci­ch­lid species is rapidly de­clin­ing. Over 300 na­tive species have al­ready been dri­ven to ex­tinc­tion due to the feed­ing pat­terns of the Nile perch (Schofield, 1999). Al­though for the time being the strong in­crease of L. niloti­cus seems to be a fa­vor­able de­vel­op­ment for the fish­ing in­dus­try, the final con­se­quences may be very se­ri­ous for fu­ture fish pro­duc­tion in the lake (Goudswaard and Witte, 1984). Since the in­crease of Nile perch, the ac­cel­er­ated de­cline in di­ver­sity has al­tered the food web struc­ture and caused eco­log­i­cal changes due largely to human ac­tions, which have pro­found so­cioe­co­nomic ef­fects (Kitchell and Schindler, 1997). The con­tin­u­ing degra­da­tion of Lake Vic­to­ria's eco­log­i­cal func­tions has se­ri­ous long-term con­se­quences for the ecosys­tem ser­vices it pro­vides and may threaten so­cial wel­fare in the dif­fer­ent coun­tries bor­der­ing its shores (Ver­schuren and John­son, 2002). Also since the in­crease of Nile perch, smaller scale fish­ing com­pa­nies have been hurt sig­nif­i­cantly. (Goudswaard and Witte, 1984; Kitchel and Schindler, 1997; Schofield, 1999; Ver­schuren and John­son, 2002)

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

Con­trib­u­tors

William Fink (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

David Lip­ton (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Ref­er­ences

Acere, T. 1984. Ob­ser­va­tions on the bi­ol­ogy, age, growth, ma­tu­rity and sex­u­al­ity of Nile perch, *Lates niloti­cus* (Linne), and the growth of its fish­ery in the north­ern wa­ters of Lake Vic­to­ria. FAO Fish­eries Re­port, 335: 42-61.

Asila, A., J. Ogari. 1988. Growth Pa­ra­me­ters and Mor­tal­ity Rates of Nile Perch (*Lates niloti­cus*) Es­ti­mates from Length-Fre­quency Data in the Nyanza Gulf (Lake Vic­to­ria). FAO Fish­eries Re­port, 389: 272-287.

Fish­Base, 2004. "Lates niloti­cus, Nile perch" (On-line). Fish­Base. Ac­cessed 06/08/04 at http://​www.​fishbase.​org/​Summary/​SpeciesSummary.​cfm?​genusname=Lates&​speciesname=niloticus.

Goudswaard, P., F. Witte. 1984. Ob­ser­va­tion on Nile perch, *Lates niloti­cus* (L.), 1758, in the Tan­zan­ian wa­ters of Lake Vic­to­ria. FAO Fish­eries Re­port, 335: 62-67.

Hop­son, A. 1972. A Study of the Nile Perch (*Lates niloti­cus* (L.) Pisces: Cen­tropo­mi­dae) in Lake Chad. For­eign and com­mon­wealth of­fice over­seas de­vel­op­ment ad­min­is­tra­tion (Over­seas Re­search Pub­li­ca­tion), 19: 1-90.

Kitchel, J., D. Schindler. 1997. The Nile perch in Lake Vic­to­ria: In­ter­ac­tions be­tween pre­da­tion and fish­eries. Eco­log­i­cal Ap­pli­ca­tions, 7 (2): 653-664.

Ogari, J. 1984. Dis­tri­b­u­tion, Food and Feed­ing Habits of *Lates niloti­cus* in Nyanza Gulf of Lake Vic­to­ria (Kenya). FAO Fish­eries Re­port, 335: 68-80.

Ogutu-Ohwayo, R. 1984. The Ef­fects of Pre­da­tion by Nile Perch, *Lates niloti­cus* (Linne) In­tro­duced into Lake Kyoga (Uganda) in Re­la­tion to the Fish­eries of Lake Kyoga and Lake Vic­to­ria. FAO Fish­eries Re­port, 335: 18-41.

Queens­land De­part­ment of Pri­mary In­dus­tries and Fish­eries, 2004. "Fish - Note, Nile Perch (Lates niloti­cus)" (On-line). Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 1, 2002 at http://​www.​dpi.​qld.​gov.​au/​fishweb/​2374.​html.

Schofield, P. 1999. In­ter­ac­tions be­tween Nile perch, *Lates niloti­cus*, and other fishes in Lake Nabugabo, Uganda. En­vi­ron­men­tal Bi­ol­ogy of Fishes, 55 (4): 343-358.

Ver­schuren, D., T. John­son. 2002. His­tory and tim­ing of human im­pact on Lake Vic­to­ria, East Africa. Pro­ceed­ings of the Royal So­ci­ety Bi­o­log­i­cal Sci­ences Se­ries B, 269 (1488): 289-294.