Fecundity and Egg Size of Clarias Gariepinus in Pandam Lake, Quan-Pan L.G.A.Plateau State, Nigeria

Abstract

Experimental trials were conducted to evaluate the fecundity and egg size of Clariasgariepinus brooders (700 990g) in Pandam Lake, Plateau State, Nigeria. Thirty female fish were caught using gill nets and long-line gears. In addition, fishermen's catch was also sampled to increase sample size and fish size. Fish were dissected and their ova sac removed, weighed and preserved in 5% formalin to prevent quick egg-freezing action before counting. An ocular micrometer (Mg=0.019 mm) was used to obtain the egg size. Regression analysis was applied to assess the total length and body weight, total length and fecundity, body weight and fecundity dependence of the brooders. A unit increase in the length of the fish lead to 0.52g increase in the body weight. Between total length and fecundity, there is a significant connection with p-value less than the level of significance at (p > 0.05) with a very high value of coefficient of correlation at r=0.988. Similar results were obtained for body weight and fecundity but with the coefficient of correlation at r=0.917. Absolute fecundity and relative fecundity were found to be related to the body weight of the fish. Each of these relationships is statistically significant (p<0.05). The egg size ranged between 1.13mm to 1.16mm. The result indicates that the relative fecundity increased with increasing body weight and total length.