Catch composition and seasonal distribution of the genera Penaeus and Macrobranchium in Badagry Creek, Nigeria

Abstract

Shrimps and prawns are widely distributed throughout theworld supporting important fisheries (Holthius, 1980).While the catch composition for shrimps in the continentalshelf of Nigeria had been documented in Awosika et al.(2002) mention has not being made of penaeids in theinland water systems. Commercial importance of the genusMacrobrachium had been reported in Marioghae (1982).In spite of this, little is known about the bioecology ofthese migratory species based on wet-dry seasonality inNigeria. Hoeinghaus et al. (2006) highlighted the impor-tance of season in the migratory fishes of tropical riversystems. Movement of fishes has great importance to thefisheries thus an important component of aquatic food webworldwide (Hoeinghaus et al., 2006), vital to normalpopulation processes (Hanski, 2001), responses to man-agement actions (Riley & Fausch, 1995). Lucas & Baras(2001) were of the view that for freshwater fishes, move-ment among habitats has been recognized as the normrather than the exception across many taxa.The choice of Badagry Creek was based on its uniquefresh and brackish water conditions at different periods ofthe year. Also, it is one of the few waters systems withuninterrupted access to the Atlantic Ocean and relativelylow anthropogenic activities. Considerable internationaltrading is carried out across the borders as many traderscome to purchase the shellfish particularly the Penaeusnotialis (Pe´rez-Farfante, 1967) from neighbouring BeninRepublic.