Dagaa / Silver Cyprinid

This is an important food fish caught in Lake Victoria and other lakes and rivers feeding into the Nile. Dagaa is silver with a prominent lateral stripe and a lateral line that is very low on the body. It is the only fish native to Lake Victoria that survives in great numbers after introduction of Nile Perch and Nile Tilapia.

This fish can grow to just over 3 inches (8 cm) long, and is caught at night using lights, then sun dried. Dagaa is sold and distributed through the southern East African region for use as both human food and chicken feed. While it looks very much like Kapenta, they are Herrings, and Dagaa is a Carp. IUCN Red Listed LC (Least Concern).   Photo by George Jaimi (heavily cropped) distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike v4.0 International.

More on Carp Family.

The largest catch of this fish is during the rainy season, but they do not dry well then (they are still just spread out on sand, old nets or rocks to dry. Salting and Smoking are not used). The rainy season catch, being of poor quality, is used mainly for chicken feed.

Buying:

Scales:

Cooking:

1. Dry pan fry the dried fish until it turns golden brown.
2. Rub between the palms of your hands to remove scales and sand.
3. Wash thoroughly. Boiling water may be used. Drain well.
4. Prepare a pan with Tomatoes, Onions, and Red Chili cut small. Cilantro and Garlic may be included, and Salt to taste. Add Oil and fry until soft.
5. Add Water, bring to a boil and add Dagaa. Simmer slowly until most of the water is gone.
6. Serve with Rice, Ugali, Potatoes, or mashed Bananas.