How a Nile tilapia sees your lure
Which lure colour a Nile tilapia can actually see, at your depth and in your water. 4 cone types, peak 560 nm. Ranked contrast for 54 colours.
Oreochromis niloticus
Measured for this species UV cannot be shown
Cone peaks are direct measurements for this species. The rest of the model — water optics, contrast, detection distance — is still an estimate, and none of it predicts whether a fish will strike. This species has a UV cone: about 92% of that cone’s sensitivity lies below 400 nm, where a phone screen cannot show you anything. The UV channel is drawn in a declared false colour.
Spectral sensitivity
| Cone peaks | λmax | Chromophore |
|---|---|---|
| UV | 370 nm | A1 |
| Short | 455 nm | A1 |
| Medium | 530 nm | A1 |
| Long | 560 nm | A1 |
| Rod | 500 nm | A1 |
Rods do the work at dawn, dusk and night — which is when most people fish.
92% of this species’ UV cone sensitivity lies below 400 nm, outside anything a screen can show.
Lure table
Ranked by how much each colour stands out to a Nile tilapia in these conditions. — Algal bloom, 3 m.
| Colour | Contrast | Seen from | Fish view | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White | 95 | 81 cm | Buy now | |
| 2 | Chartreuse / white Fluorescent finish | 93 | 81 cm | Buy now | |
| 3 | Glow Glow finish — not modelled | 93 | 80 cm | Buy now | |
| 4 | Chartreuse Fluorescent finish | 91 | 78 cm | Buy now | |
| 5 | Bone | 87 | 78 cm | Buy now | |
| 6 | Silver holographic Metallic finish | 85 | 77 cm | Buy now | |
| 7 | Sexy shad | 82 | 79 cm | Buy now | |
| 8 | Chrome Metallic finish | 78 | 75 cm | Buy now | |
| 9 | Clown | 75 | 81 cm | Buy now | |
| 10 | Yellow | 74 | 71 cm | Buy now | |
| Stands out least | |||||
| Junebug | 0 | 30 cm | |||
| Black | 0 | 29 cm | |||
| Purple / black | 0 | 29 cm | |||
| Brown | 0 | 17 cm | |||
Contrast quoted at 50 cm viewing distance. · Light that survives best here: 690 nm
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UV cannot be shown — This species has a UV cone, and a phone screen cannot emit ultraviolet. The UV channel is drawn in a declared false colour. Note also that UV is absorbed fast underwater and vanishes within centimetres in tannic water.
Get these colours
The three that came out on top, searched on your own Amazon. The ranking above is worked out from the water and the fish, before any of these links exist.
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Gear this page implies
- A lure kit with a spread of colours See on Amazon
The point of knowing which colour wins is having it in the box.
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What this water lets through
Green water. Chlorophyll eats the blue and the red and leaves the middle.
Water types
Target species
Questions people actually ask
Can a Nile tilapia see colour?
Yes. It has 4 cone types, peaking at 370 nm, 455 nm, 530 nm, 560 nm. That gives it 3 colour dimensions, against a human’s 2.
Where does this data come from?
Direct microspectrophotometry, ERG or behavioural spectral sensitivity for this species.
Sources
- Lisney, T.J. et al. (2010). Vision Research 50, 2376–2386.
- Spady, T.C. et al. (2006). Molecular Biology and Evolution 23, 1538–1547 — cichlid opsin expression.