Nile perch Nile perch The Nile perch ("Lates niloticus") is a species of freshwater fish in family Latidae of order Perciformes. It is widespread throughout much of the Afrotropic ecozone, being native to the Congo, Nile, Senegal, Niger and Lake Chad, Volta, Lake Turkana, and other river basins. It also occurs in the brackish waters of Lake Maryut in Egypt. The Nile perch is a fish of substantial economic and food-security importance in East Africa. Originally described as "Labrus niloticus," among the marine wrasses, the species has also been referred to as "Centropomus niloticus". Common names include African snook, Victoria perch (a
Nile tilapia to this species, too. An undescribed population found at, for example, Wami River, Lake Manyara, and Tingaylanda seems to be a close relative. Nile tilapia The Nile tilapia ("Oreochromis niloticus") is a species of tilapia, a cichlid fish native to Africa from Egypt south to east and central Africa, and as far west as Gambia. It is also native to Israel, and numerous introduced populations exist outside its natural range (e.g., Brazil). It is also commercially known as mango fish, "nilotica", or "boulti". The first name leads to easy confusion with another tilapia traded commercially, the mango tilapia ("Sarotherodon galilaeus").