# What are "silver fish" in the context of animal feed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 2, 2025, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-silver-fish-in-the-context-of-animal-feed/1025322 "2025-12-02T06:24:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-silver-fish-in-the-context-of-animal-feed/1025322/1 "2025-12-02T06:24:34Z")
Triggered by the mention of eating insect protien in a thread, I was reminded of the attempt to popularize farming black soldier fly larva for human consumption. Googling around on that and quickly skimming articles, I was suprised to see mention of consumption of silver fish, which (being in an article about insect farming) I first thought meant silverfish the insect, which seemed very weird > The research that was conducted by the agriculture department is based on nature with intentions of protecting the environment through the reduction of silver fish consumption by humans and animal feed production as well as reduce land under soya bean cultivation. Reading the article more carefully, I found this earlier in the article > Use of the black soldier fly larvae to replace silver fish and soya beans as the main source of protein in animal feed production has been tried elsewhere in the country in the past four years. Apparently they are some type of fish that are silver, not silverfish, but Google does _not_ want to give results only for “silver fish” and not “silverfish” (aside from a specific brand of fish food pellets. So what are “silver fish” that are apparently cultured on a significant scale and apparently are eaten by people and animals? > **[Smart Agriculture project to introduce Black Soldier Fly rearing in Nebbi](https://www.independent.co.ug/smart-agriculture-project-to-introduce-black-soldier-fly-rearing-in-nebbi/)** > >   According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, insects can provide much of the protein animals need at a much lower environmental cost. Several studies suggest that many animals do just fine on insects. Nebbi, Uganda |... ---
**Author:** ![Xocomil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xocomil/32/14927_2.png) [@Xocomil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xocomil)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-silver-fish-in-the-context-of-animal-feed/1025322/2 "2025-12-02T06:37:53Z")
One variety of silver fish used in animal feed and human chow, as well, is called [mukene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_cyprinid) in Uganda. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-silver-fish-in-the-context-of-animal-feed/1025322/3 "2025-12-02T06:45:43Z")
Hyphenate silver-fish in your search. Google says Silver carp. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2025, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-silver-fish-in-the-context-of-animal-feed/1025322/4 "2025-12-02T12:16:10Z")
This article from 2023 seems informative. > **[Uganda’s rising interest in silver fish | The Niles](https://www.theniles.org/stories/ugandas-rising-interest-in-silver-fish/)** > > Uganda's fishing communities navigate innovative methods to process silver fish, hoping to access new markets and augment local nutrition. I think clearly calling out the fact you’re talking about Uganda-based terminology not US-based terminology would also help your search results.