Abstract: This study was designed in order to investigate a relationship between numbers of gill rakers (GR) and seminal vesicles extensions (SVE) of male African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) in Maiduguri, Nigeria. Twenty adult males of wild African catfish were used for this study. They weighed an average of 521±93.31 gm and measured a standard body length of 40.35±2.30 cm. The average numbers of gill rakers and seminal vesicles extension obtained in this study were 88.5±11.57 and 35.90±2.79 respectively. The results showed that there was a negative correlation between number of seminal vesicle extension (NSVE) and number of gill rakers (NGR), r = -0.1124 and is not significant (P>0.05). There was a low correlation between the weight of fish (WF) and NGR (r = 0.1527; P > 0.05) as well as negative correlation between the length of fish (LF) and WF (r = -0.2388; P > 0.05). Negative correlations was also observed between LF and NGR (r = -0.0227; P > 0.05) as well as a low positive correlation existed between LF and NSVE (r = 0.0386; P > 0.05). However, a negative and significant correlation were observed between WF and NSVE (r = -0.5286; p<0.0166). Higher variability was observed in the biometric variables of the African catfish. NGR, NSVE, WF and LF (CV= 13.05, 7.77, 17.91 and 5.70 respectively). The African catfish were clustered into 4 groups separated from each other by a specific mahalanobis distance. This reveals that in the study area, there is no positive correlation between the NGR and NSVE.
Keywords: African catfish, gill rakers, Maiduguri, Nigeria, seminal vesicles.
Title: The Relationship between Numbers of Gill Rakers and Seminal Vesicle Extensions of Male African Catfish (Clarias Gariepinus) in Maiduguri, Nigeria
Author: M. Zakariah, G. G. Udoh, A. Yahaya, C. Yakubu, A. P. Mshelia
International Journal of Life Sciences Research
ISSN 2348-313X (Print), ISSN 2348-3148 (online)
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