Honolulu Star-Advertiser © Susan Scott
June 26, 2000
LAST week, I went to the Honolulu Academy of Arts’ special exhibit, “Mystery of the Nile — Treasures from Ancient Egypt,” with several family members.
It says a lot for the show that a child, two teens, two adults and two middle-agers all loved it. The displays are captivating, the audio descriptions are excellent, and the overall experience is just plain fun.
I liked all the ancient treasures, but one in particular caught my attention. In fact, I stayed so long at its glass case, admiring the piece and taking notes, that my family gave up on me and moved on.
The item that held me up was a creamy white, limestone dish carved in the shape of a fish. This shallow bowl was shaped like a soap dish with the convex side revealing an elaborate pattern of fins and scales. The note in front of the piece said, “The carefully detailed Nile fish represented in this dish was called a bolti. … This type of fish was a popular decorative motif as it symbolized rebirth and regeneration. From Tomb E155, Dynasty 18, 1539-1292 B.C.”
What’s a bolti? Ironically, the fish that ancient Egyptians held in such high esteem is one that doesn’t get much respect in Hawaii today: It’s the humble tilapia.
Hawaii hosts about 10 species of these African natives, some released by accident and some released intentionally to control weeds and free-floating algae in streams and canals. And that they do. Tilapia eat large amounts of algae, keeping our fresh, brackish and saltwater canals free of green scum and crowding plants.
THRIVING in such a wide range of aquatic environments is a notable feature of tilapia. Although they evolved in freshwater rivers and lakes, some species can survive in water twice as salty as the ocean. Also, when their water gets low in oxygen, tilapia purse their lips just above the water’s surface and breathe air.
You can watch this astonishing behavior in the canals of Ala Moana Beach Park and in the Ala Wai Boat Harbor. The fish you see there, often gulping air, are blackchin tilapia, natives of West Africa.
The tilapia at these two city sites nearly always have people interacting with them. Sometimes people are feeding the fish bread, a food the tilapia gobble up eagerly. Other times, people are fishing for them.
Honolulu’s canal tilapia, however, are not for eating. The state Department of Health has issued a warning against eating tilapia from these urban places because the fishes’ flesh contains heavy metal and other pollutants.
On the other hand, farm-grown tilapia are excellent, high-quality food. These are among the most commonly farmed fish throughout the world and are growing in popularity in the United States, including Hawaii. Each year since 1995, retail sales of tilapia have surpassed those of trout.
It’s fitting that the ancient Egyptians used these fish as a symbol of rebirth and regeneration because tilapia reproduce like mad. In some species, the female lays her eggs, waits until a male fertilizes them, then collects them in her mouth where they incubate and hatch. Other species dig nests in the bottom, and both parents guard the eggs and fry.
Last week, I had cause to visit the Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hawaii, an elegant hotel featuring dolphins, sea turtles and reef fish in its seaside lagoons. I noticed that also swimming in these pools is a school of tilapia.
It’s amazing to me that revered, freshwater fish of ancient Egypt swim today with saltwater mammals, reptiles and fish in Hawaii.
One of the mysteries of the Nile is a tilapia.