Fish fauna of Obueyinomo River, Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The fish faunal studies of Obueyinomo River, Edo state, Nigeria was carried out between May 2015 and April 2017. Fishes were caught by hired fishermen using fish trap, bagnet and hook and line. One thousand, seven hundred and twenty four fishes (1724) were caught belonging to 17 families, 25 genera, and 38 species. Clariidae and Channidae were the most abundant families with 25.2% and 16.7%, and the least abundant families were Osteoglossidae with 0.06%. The fish biomass investigation showed Channidae (31.2%), Clariidae (35%) and Malapteruridae (11.1%) as the most dominant families. Thirty one (31), (40.7%), 25 (27.2%) and 27 (32.3%) species were caught in stations 1, 2 and 3. The families with the highest number of species (7) were Cichlidae and Mormyridae. The dominant fish species were Auchenoglanis monkei, Parachanna obscura, Clarias gariepinus: and Malapterurus electricus. The seasonal fish abundance determinations showed higher catches during the rainy season (52.2%) than dry season (47.8%). The Chi-square test showed no significant difference (P>0.05) between the seasons. Findings from this study will be a useful document of the fish fauna of Obueyinomo River for prospects of harnessing the fisheries of this water body and facilitate formulation of development plan in the fishing industry.

Keywords: fauna, fishermen, fish composition, fish abundance, biomass