Fish Species Diversity and Abundance of Tagwai Dam, Minna, Niger state

Abstract

Fish species diversity of Tagwai Dam (Longitude 6o39 to 6o44 East and Latitude 34o to 9o37 North to South-west of Minna were studied. The sampling was conducted fortnightly for three. Five species from five genera and five families were identified. These were Clupeidae, Cichlidae, Bagridae, Clarridae, Mochokidae and Cyprinidae. The total count for species during the sampling period was 13,773. Clupeidae were the most dominant species with a total counts of (7,897) while Labeo (Cyprinidae) had the least population. There were significant differences (P<0.05) in the weight of samples of species. However, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) among the species of Clarias, Synodontis and Labeo whose population were the lowest. Adoption of fish conservation, good management strategies and enforcement of fisheries by-laws are necessary to improve the fishery resource of the Tagwai dam coupled with regular bio-diversity study of the dam