Photo credit: Marcelin Ngatcham (Cameroon) Description: Abdel Rahman El Gamal (Founder of the website)
Fish displayed and sold in Egyptian fish markets are mostly on ice. In the past few years, there is a tendency for the sale of live tilapia from aquaculture especially higher prices has been achieved for live fish.
In regard to African catfish, Clarias gariepinus its display and sale is traditionally alive no matter whether caught from the wild or harvested from fish pond bearing in mind that catfish may be only displayed in traditional and village markets. The reason for that is because of the outstanding tolerance of this air breathing species to harsh environmental conditions such as low dissolved oxygen which makes it possible to keep the fish alive for days with simple arrangements. Dead catfish indicates to most consumers the low freshness of the fish although this may not be true. In reality, dead catfish are either processed or sold at much lower prices.
