Feeding Habits of Aucheonoglanis biscutatus (Geoffrey St. Hilaire, 1827) from Sebore Reservoir, Mayo-Belwa, Adamawa State of Nigeria

Abstract

The feeding habit of Auchenoglanis biscutatus from Sebore Reservoir, Mayo–Belwa, Adamawa State was evaluated monthly for a period of one year. A total of 120 A. biscutatus were collected as samples, washed with clean water and preserved in ice crest to minimize any post–mortem changes, taken to the laboratory for stomach contents analysis, while stomachs were preserved in formalin solution of about four per cent (4%). The stomach contents of each sample were identified and analysed using the numerical and frequency of occurrence methods. Five major groups of food items constituted the diet of A. biscutatus. Numerical analysis showed that insects were dominant and composed of 57.88% of the group of food items in the stomach, bottom organisms 15.84%, zooplankton 11.81%, other materials 6.61%, aquatic molluscs 6.44% and phytoplankton was least with 1.42%. The frequency of occurrence indicated that detritus was dominant and found in 78.50% of the stomach, Chaoburus spp. larvae 73.83%, sand particles 61.68%, Cullicoides spp. larvae 60.74%, Chironomus spp. larvae 58.87%, bivalves 57.00%, while the least was Phacus spp. in 7.47%. Stomach content analysis of A. biscutatus indicated that they fed on various food items ranging from insects, detritus, zooplankton, sand particles and aquatic molluscs to phytoplankton. The A. biscutatus from Sebore Reservoir is an omnivore bottom feeder, as bottom-dwelling immature insects dominate its food items which are of animal origin.  Knowledge of the feeding habits of A. biscutatus in its natural habitat like Sebore Reservoir it’s a good pointer towards the aquaculture potentiality of these fish species.