FOOD AND FEEDING HABITS OF Synodontis budgetti FROM SEBORE RESERVOIR, MAYO – BELWA, ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study was aimed at investigating the food and feeding habits of Synodontis budgetti in Sebore reservoir, Mayo-Belwa, Adamawa State Nigeria. A total of 84 specimens of S. budgetti were sampled monthly for a period of a year. Fishing was done using gill nets as the fishing gear and canoe was used as fishing craft. The fish specimens were washed with clean water and preserved in ice crest to minimize any post-mortem changes and taken to the laboratory for analysis of the stomach contents based on standard methods. The random samples of the stomach contents were studied and recorded. The contents of each of the samples were analysed using numerical method (NM) and frequency of occurrence method (FO). Results elucidated that 35.71% had their stomach full with food, 46.43% were having a half-filled stomach and 17.86% were observed to have empty stomachs. Four major groups of food items constituted the diet of S. budgetti from Sebore Reservoir. NM elucidated that insects were the dominant composing of 60.33% of the group of food items in the stomach, benthos made up 25.90%, crustaceans were 9.00%, while aquatic molluscs were the least with 4.77%. FO method indicated that, chironomus larva were dominant and found to occur in 85.50% of the stomach contents, detritus in 82.60%, diptera in 60.87%, odonata nymphs in 57.97%, while the least was gastropoda. in 30.34%. it can be concluded that S. budgetti is specifically insectivore, molluscivore, crustacivore, detritivore and broadly predatory carnivorous feeder and benthic feeder.