Diversity and abundance of the family mugilidae in the New Calabar River, Nigeria

• Main Authors: Olaniyi Alaba Olopade, Henry Eyina Dienye, İke Joel Ogbonnaya
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ege University 2019-09-01
• Series: Su Ürünleri Dergisi
• Subjects: diversity indices; mullets; abundance; new calabar river
• Online Access: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/egejfas/issue/45680/541360

The study was conducted to determine the diversity and abundance of mullets (Mugilidae) in the New Calabar River, Nigeria. Fish samples were collected monthly between February to July 2018 at three landing stations: Choba: Station 1, Ogbogoro: Station 2 and Iwofe: Station 3. A total of 578 individuals belonging to three species (Sicklefin mullet (Neochelon falcipinnis Valenciennes, 1836), Largescaled mullet (Parachelon grandisquamis Valenciennes, 1836) and Flathead grey mullet (Mugil cephalus Linnaeus, 1758) of the family Mugilidae were sampled. N.falcipinus recorded the highest abundance (47.40%) followed by M.cephalus (36.85%) while P.grandisquamis recorded the least abundant (15.74%). The Simpson’s index of diversity had the highest value of 0.63 in Choba station and the least value of 0.59 in Iwofe station, while the Simpson’s reciprocal index highest value of 1.71 in Iwofe station and least value of 1.60 in Choba station. The Shannon- Weiner index and Pielou’s eveness index value also recorded highest values of 1.03 and 0.94 in Choba station with the least values of 0.96 and 0.87 in Iwofe station respectively. The diversity indices showed that the family Mugilidae is fairly distributed in the study area and it is therefore recommended that further research should be carried out to provide a complete examination of the biology and ecology of the mullets within the New Calabar River.