Via Science Daily
A study done by ICIPE (International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology) Nairobi shows that Tilapia in ponds significantly controls malaria causing anopheles mosquitoes.
After 15 weeks the fish reduced both Anopheles gambiae s.l. and Anopheles funestus, the region’s primary malaria vectors, by over 94 percent. The fish also decimated three quarters of the culicine mosquito population.
The findings present a win-win situation for Kenyans, who can use the fish to limit mosquito populations and gain food and income from them too. “O. niloticus fish were so effective in reducing immature mosquito populations that there is likely to be a noticeable effect on the adult mosquito population in the area,” Howard says. This control method is apparently sustainable, as the fish breed and provide a continuous population.
Basically if you’ve got a pond put some Tilapia in there to eat the mosquitoes. Good news, though stagnant pools of water are still breeding grounds… still an interesting study and a great suggestion for controlling malaria.
Fish to control mosquitoes? That’s a novel concept if there ever was one!!
I used to hate/fear gecko’s as a kid. Now I welcome them as effecient mosquito terminators
hey M, i thought so too…
Banks, i was intrigued by the gecko’s ‘colour less’ skin (well it was more like pink really) in the boarding sch i attended there was a superstition that if you touched them they would take your soul or some such, weird huh?! I think Velcro, scratch that…some sort of super glue was developed based on the science behind gecko’s ability to climb walls. Check this out http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/articles/article/biomimeticsborrowingfrombiology/
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Hi..just stopping by to say a Happy New Year…interesting post there, and i’ve bookmarked this blog too…keep up the good job
Two small native fish have been bred for this purpose for some time in Australia. The Fire tail gudgeon and the Dubolay’s Rainbow Fish both heavily predate mosquito larvae and have good reproductive rates. Local government bodies distribute the fish free of charge to people with ponds/dams and also release them into small bodies of standing water to assist with control.
Search Tim Hurst and Native fish for mosquito control australia for research papers.