Food and feeding habit of freshwater Mormyrid (Hyperopisus bebe occidentalis, Gunther) in River Rima and Goronyo Dam, Nigeria

The food and feeding habits of Hyperopisus bebe occidentalis caught in River Rima and Goronyo Dam in North western Nigeria were investigated A total of four hundred and fifty four (454) fish samples were collected on monthly basis from October, 2001 to September, 2002 are examined for feeding adaptations and gizzard content. The mouth is terminal in studied species. Two types of teeth were identified viz; cardiform and molariform. The gill rakers were 0.09~c 0.04cm in length with 0.010~ccm interspacing. The compartment of gut included gizzard-like stomach. The gut length and fish length (GL-TL) indicated rectilinear positive relationship. The regression coefficient (b) and correlation coefficient (r) of the gut length fish length relationships were significant (p< 0.05). The main taxa of food items identified included substances of plant and animal origins, with overall percentage occurrence of 69.8 and 20.7% for samples from River Rima and 59.1 and 20. 0% for those from Goronyo Dam in the same order. During the dry season, the frequency occurrence of plant substances were higher in the juveniles (<30cm, TL) 70.9% and adults (=30cm, TL) 64.7% in River Rima than the values obtained in samples from Goronyo Dam. Their occurrences in Goronyo Dam were fairly higher in the adults (62.9%) than in the juveniles (53.6%) during the same season. The results of this study showed higher occurrence of plant materials in juveniles than in the adults from the two water bodies during the rainy season. Contrary to this, low frequency occurrence of substances of animal in the juvenile samples from River Rima (15.2%) and Goronyo Dam (17.1%) were obtained in adult samples, the occurrence of animal substances were more than those of plants from the two seasons and water body. The feeding adaptive features revealed the ecological roles of the fish species that could be useful in satisfying their food requirements in culture systems and for teaching and further research.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Malami, G.Z., Ipinjolu, J.K., Hassan, W.A., Magawata, I.
Format:	conference_item biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	FISON 2008
Subjects:	Ecology, Fisheries, Hyperopisus bebe occidentalis, Nigeria, Rim R., Goronyo Dam, freshwater environment, Feeding behaviour, Feeding, Food preferences,
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/1834/37956
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