Species sheet · The Edible River
Nile perch
The giant that changed the face of a lake.
- Grilled or roasted fillet with a punchy sauce
- In a curry or spiced tomato sauce
- Fried in chunks, lakeshore-style
- In French
- Perche du Nil
- Scientific name
- Lates niloticus
- In the water
- A large predator of African rivers and lakes, from the Nile to Lake Victoria, hunting in open water and going deep when the heat rises.
- Season & buying
- Fished all year and sold as frozen fillets, often under the French name capitaine; check origin and supply chain.
- Common length
- ~80 cm
- How to identify it
- Massive silver body with bronze glints and a humped back
Large dark eye ringed with yellow
Concave profile above the eyes, two dorsal fins
On the plate
White, firm, lean flesh, boneless in the fillet, with a mild and neutral taste.
Avoid: Cooking it like an oily fish: the lean flesh dries fast, so protect it with a marinade or a sauce.
Introduced into Lake Victoria in the mid-twentieth century, it wiped out hundreds of cichlid species found nowhere else on Earth.
In Umay recipes
One Umay recipe calls for it.
