 This may increase as a result of the spread of the invasive water hyacinth (an optimum snail habitat), and the loss of many snail-eating cichlids in the lake.Lake Victoria supports Africa's largest inland fishery (as of 1997).Initially the fishery involved native species, especially tilapia and haplochromine cichlids, but also catfish ("Bagrus", "Clarias", "Synodontis" and silver butter catfish), elephantfish, ningu ("Labeo victorianus") and marbled lungfish ("Protopterus aethiopicus").