A comparative assessment of aspects of reproductive biology of two freshwater prawns, Macrobrachium felicinum (Holthuis, 1949) and Atya gabonensis (Giebel, 1875) in River Benue, Makurdi, Nigeria

Abstract

This work was designed to determine and compare sex ratio, fecundity, egg diameter and gonadosomatic index of M. felicinum and A. gabonensis in Lower River Benue from January to December 2016. A total of 295 M. felicinum were sampled with an overall sex ratio of 8.52:1(F:M). The highest sex ratio of female to male (12:1 F:M) was in August while the least was in September (5.00:1 F:M). About 2413 Atya gabonensis were collected with an overall sex ratio of 1:211. F:M Fecundity varied from 230 - 69,782 eggs in M. felicinum and 4,300 - 8,600eggs in A. gabonensis. Stronger correlation was observed between fecundity and total length (r=0.64 in M. felicinum and 0.87 in A. gabonensis). Mean egg diameter of A. gabonensis was 0.46 ± 0.0 mm and that of M. Felicinum was 0.44 ± 0.03. Macrobrachium felicinum showed higher Gonadosomatic Index (0.58 ± 0.041) than A. gabonensis (0.33 ± 0.009). Macrobrachium felicinum appeared to have more reproductive output than A. gabonensis. Both species, A. gabonensis and M. felicinum were recommended as good candidates for culture as their seeds are readily available in the Lower River Benue.