Taxonomic composition, diversity and abundance of the ichthyofaunal assemblage of Iba-Oku stream, Ikpa River, Nigeria

Abstract

Taxonomic composition, diversity and abundance of the ichthyofaunal assemblage of Iba-Oku stream, Ikpa River was carried out. Nineteen fish species representing 13 families were recorded. In all, 312 samples were caught with gill nets, hooks and lines. The Malapteruridae was the dominant family (48 specimens) (15.4%) while Malapterurus electricus was the dominant species by number and preponderance 48 (15.4%) and 67.23%, respectively. Monthly and seasonal abundance showed highest in March 71 (23.10%) during the dry season and July 68(21.79%) during the wet season, respectively. The largest fish sample was Erpetoichthys calabaricus (27.80 cm, SL; 41.70 g Tw) while Epiplatys sexfasciatus was the smallest (4.60 cm, SL; 3.00 g, Tw). Meanwhile, the heaviest fish was Brycinus nurse (17.4 cm, SL; 124.9 g, Tw). Diversity indices showed highly diverse conditions among the species. The mean condition factor (K) was (3.61) showing that the fishes were generally in 'good' condition. © 2012 Academic Journals Inc.