The Icthyofauna Composition, Abundance and Diversity of Fishes in Ogba River, Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The ichthyofauna composition, abundance and diversity of fishes' study in Ogba River, Edo state, Nigeria was carried out between February 2018and October 2018. Fish samples were collected from fishermen using gill nets, hook and lines, bamboo traps, mesh net and basket traps. 637 fish samples were caught belonging to 8 families and 17 species. Cichlidae, Clariidae and Channidae were the most abundant families with 17.8%, 14.4% and 11.1% and the least abundant family was Mochokidae with 0.4%. The fish biomass investigation showed Cichlidae (35.1%), Clariidae (26.9%) and Channidae (22.5%) as the dominant families. The dominant fish species were Chromidotilapia guentheri (17.8%), Clarias gariepinus (14.4%) and Parachanna obscura (11.1%). Twelve species were subdominant while two species Synodontis nigrita (0.5%) and Gnathonemus senegalensis (0.3%) were occasional, they were no rare species. The highest number of fish catch was in station 2 followed by station 3. This study has contributed to the existing knowledge of the different species of fish in Ogba River.