PROXIMATE COMPOSITION, FOOD AND FEEDING HABIT OF HETEROTIS NILOTICUS FROM RIVER KADUNA FLOOD PLAINS, NIGERIA

Abstract

In order to evaluate the proximate composition and feed and feeding habit of Heterotis niloticus, a total of 144 H. niloticus specimen were collected from River Kaduna flood plains using the gill net. Moisture, crude protein, Lipid and ash were evaluated for proximate composition, while Frequency of occurrence; point method and dominance method were used to evaluate the feed and feeding habit. Sampling of the specimen was done fortnightly and variations in the percentage composition of the food items were recorded. It was observed that the fish fed mostly on plankton with rotifer and polycysits having the highest number of frequency and dominant value with mean value of 43.03±4.12 and 11.73±1.15, 37.45±3.27 and 8.32±0.38 respectively while Arcella had the least mean frequency of occurrence of 3.27±1.7, Amoeba sp had the least mean dominance value of 7.06±3.0, while Aphnocapsa sp had the least mean frequency of occurrence of 1.10±0.29 and Navasota sp had the least mean dominance value of 4.31±1.11. We can conclude from this investigation that H. niloticus fish is a semi fatty fish and the food and feeding analysis of H. niloticus from River Kaduna flooded plains are predominantly planktivorous.