Fish catch, composition, abundance, and seasonality of a semi Oxbow Lake in north central Nigeria

Abstract

Fish catch composition, abundance and seasonality of Gbedikere Lake were studied  between October 2006 and September, 2008. Three sampling stations were used for experimental gill net assessment of the fishery. Twelve fish species representing ten  families were recorded. These were Protopteridae, Mormyridae, Claridae, Mochokidae, Cichlidae, Malapteruridae, Osteoglossidae, Gymnarcidae and Citharinidae. The most  dominant species were Oreochromis niloticus (17.90%) and Tilapia zilli (13.01%)  numerically. In terms of biomass, the Cichlids formed 30.91% of the total catch  followed by Heterotis niloticus (15.56%), Clarias gariepinus (13.16%), Gymnarchus niloticus (8.78%), Heterobranchus bidorsalis (7.14%), Synodontis nigrita (6.69%), Mormyrus rume (5.68%), Citharinus citharus (3.91%), Labeo senegalensis (2.93%) and Protopterus annectens (2.74%). In terms of distribution the highest fish catch was from station B, (34.61%) followed by station C, (34.41%) and station A, (30.91%) respectively. There were no significant difference in the distribution of the fish species (P<0.01). Management towards the conservation of the fish resources was suggested.

Key words: Species composition, abundance, seasonality and conservation.