Abstract

The fish fauna of River Taraba, Taraba State, Nigeria was studied from November 2017 to April 2019. The catch composition assessment was conducted at the landing sites once a month and fish species were identified. Descriptive statistical tools and Shannon –Weiner index were used to analyze the data collected. A total of 60,574 fishes belonging to 20 families and 50 species were identified in the local fishers catch. The family Cichlidae dominated the catch in number with 22.96%, followed by Clariidae (14.26%), Distichodontidae (12.61%), Morchochidae (10.55%), Characidae (9.57%), Schilbeidae (7.29%), Bagridae (6.11%), Mormyridae (5.79%), Alestidae (2.52%), Claroteidae (2.43%), Cyprinidae (1.33%), Protopteridae (1.23%), Osteoglossidae (1.20%) while the families Polypteridae, Citharinidae, Centropomidae, Hepsitidae Gymnarchidae, Channidae, and Malapteruridae each contributed less than 1% to the total fishes caught. Mormyridae was the most diversified family and was represented by 7 species; Mormyrus rume (3.88%), Petrocephalus bane (0.52%), Hyperopisus bebe (0.42%), Marcusenius abadii (0.30%) Mormyrus anguilloides (0.25%), Mormyrus macrothalmus (0.23%), Hippopotamyrus psittacus (0.19%). The study showed that the most abundant species was Tilapia galilaeus (10.13%) while the least are Labeo coubie and Malapterurus electricus which contributed (0.12%) each to the total catch. The Diversity parameters of Shannon-Weiner Index showed that Tella landing site was more diverse and evenly distributed Hˈ3.3973; E 0.3659 while the least was Wurbo with Hˈ3.1128; E 0.3177. Wurbo landing site stood out in terms of species richness with 17,964 while the least was Gayam landing site with 9,993. It is recommended that fishers should adopt approved mesh size that will allow fingerlings of threatened fish species such as Lates niloticus for future catch.

Key Words: Fish, Catch, Biodiversity, Abundance and River Taraba