Population Dynamics Of Blue Tilapia In Trinidad Lake, Texas

Scales from blue tilapia (Tilapia aurea) captured in gillnets indicated that annulus formation occurred primarily in March and April in 1973 and 1974, but in April and May 1975,. Average back-calculated total lengths of males were 197 and 258 mm at Age I and II and for females 183 and 248 mm. Total population of blue tilapia in December 1974 was estimated as 4,856,963. Of this total 3,120,810 were Age 0 and 1,591,823 were Age I. Biomass of the tilapia population was estimated to be 799,978 kg or 2,640 kg/ha. Survival of blue tilapia from Age I to II was calculated to be 7%. From these estimates the potential yield of harvestable blue tilapia would be 1,629,501 fish weighing 521,153 kg.