Silver cyprinid facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Silver cyprinid |
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The silver cyprinid is a small, shiny fish that lives in freshwater. People also call it the Lake Victoria sardine, mukene, omena, or dagaa. It belongs to the carp family, called Cyprinidae. This fish is special because it's the only type in its group, the Rastrineobola genus. You can find it in East Africa.
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About the Silver Cyprinid
This fish is small and silvery. Its body is quite flat and covered in large, shiny scales. It has a yellow tail. The silver cyprinid can grow up to about 9 centimeters (3.5 inches) long.
Where It Lives
The silver cyprinid lives in several lakes and rivers in East Africa. You can find it in the areas around Lake Kyoga and Lake Nabugabo. It also lives in the Victoria Nile river in Uganda. The fish is very common in Lake Victoria, which is shared by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.
How It Lives
The silver cyprinid lives all over Lake Victoria, both near the shore and further out. It usually swims at depths between 0 and 20 meters (0 to 65 feet). However, its eggs and young fish can be found much deeper, even at 68 meters (223 feet).
Daily Life and Food
Adult silver cyprinids stay near the bottom of the lake during the day. At night, they swim up closer to the surface. Young fish move away from the shallow areas where they were born.
This fish mainly eats tiny water creatures called zooplankton. It also eats insects that land on the water's surface.
Who Eats the Silver Cyprinid?
Many animals like to eat the silver cyprinid. Birds often catch them from the surface. Larger fish, like the catfish Schilbe mystus, Clarias gariepinus, and Bagrus docmak, also hunt them.
Reproduction and Life Cycle
Silver cyprinids lay their eggs near the shore. A female fish can lay over 1,000 eggs at once. These eggs float freely in the water.
The fish breed all year round. They have two main times when they lay the most eggs: once in August and again in December or January. They grow quickly and are ready to have their own babies when they are about 16 to 25 months old.
Surviving in Lake Victoria
The silver cyprinid is one of the few native fish species that are still common in Lake Victoria. This is because other fish, like the Nile perch (Lates niloticus) and Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), were brought into the lake. These new fish ate many of the native fish that also ate zooplankton. This meant less competition for the silver cyprinid, helping it to thrive.
Fishing for Silver Cyprinid
The dagaa, mukene, or omena is a very important fish for people who fish in Lake Victoria. Fishermen often catch them at night when there is no moon. They use lights to attract the fish.
Silver Cyprinid as Food
Dagaa, mukene, or omena from Lake Victoria is a big part of what people eat in eastern and southern Africa. After the fish are caught at night, they are sold to women in the morning. These women spread the fish out in the sun to dry. This drying can take a day or more, depending on the weather.
Sometimes, the best fishing happens during the rainy season. This makes drying the fish harder, so the dried fish might not be as good. Even lower quality dried fish can still be used as food for chickens. People often dry the fish on sand, rocks, or old nets on the grass.
Once dried, the fish are packed into sacks. Traders then take them to markets. Big markets for dried dagaa are in Mwanza, Tanzania, and Kisumu, Kenya. From there, the fish are sent all over eastern and southern Africa to be eaten by people or used as chicken feed.
Images for kids
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Woman selling omena at the shores of a river in Kano Kisumu
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Meal of Omena, Veg and Ugali
