Fish Distribution, Abundance and Diversity in Gurara Reservoir, Kaduna State. Nigeria

Abstract

Fish distribution and abundance of Gurara reservoir were investigated from March, 2016 to February, 2017. A total of 281,547 individuals belonging to 8 families and 12 species were identified from the Reservoir. The fish family cichlidae topped the list (67%) and was represented by Tillapia zilli, S.Galilaeus and Oreochromis niloticus, while Clariidae (12%) was represented by C. angullaris. The Characidae (6%) represented by C. mento. The Family Mormyridae (5.4%) was represented by M. rume and G.pictus, This was followed by the fish family Cyprinidae (4.3%) represented by B. senegalensis and L.pseudocouble. Schilbeidae (4%) Family was represented by S. Mystus. Alestidae (0.5%) is represented by H. vittatus. Mochokidae (0.3%) were represented by M. acutidens. The diversity indexes of fish species from the five stations in the Reservoir indicated low species diversity. The estimated diversity indexes from stations was H’-1.581 for Shannon, while for Simpson’s index the values was 0.7436 across the stations. Species evenness or the distributions of individuals among the five stations based on H’ and 1-D were even. While evenness based on 1-D values was 0.4048. The dominance of the three most abundant species (Tilapia zilli, Sarotherodon galilaeus and Oreochromis niloticus among the five stations was estimated between the range of 19% and 28%. The Reservoir can be richer in ichthyofauna with high species diversity proper future planning and management of the fisheries resources of Gurara reservoir, Kaduna State are deployed.