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. Atotal 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.