Diversity, distribution and abundance of fish species in upper Awash River Basin, West Showa Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

This study examined the diversity, distribution and abundance of fish species in Upper Awash River, Ethiopia was assessed. Five sampling sites were selected along the gradient of the river. Fish sampling was carried out using Frame net of 3-mm stretched mesh size from February through April, 2018. There was a considerable variation in river depth and width at all sites. A total of 3018 fish categorized under three species belonging to the Family Cyprinidae, namely, Garra quadrimaculata, Garra dembeensis and Labeobarbus beso were identified. Garra quadrimaculata was numerically the most dominant species in all sampling sites. Perhaps, there was no fish specimen caught from S-I. Similarly, the highest and lowest number of G. dembeensis was collected from S-V (42.73%) and S-II (2.51%), respectively. The composition of L. beso was higher at S-IV (49.1%), but no L. beso collected from S-I and S-II. High number of fish was caught from the pool parts at all sites. Shannon diversity index (H’) varied between 0.14 and 0.80, and evenness index (J’) varied from 0.2 to 1.7, but H’ and J’ of S-I were zero due to the absence of species in the area. Based on Shannon index, the upper Awash River was categorized as an impacted river. Therefore, effective management of the river is very imperative for sustainable utilization of fish resources.