Assessment of some reproductive indices of Atya gabonesis and Macrobrachium macrobrachion in Lower River Benue, Makurdi, Nigeria

This study was designed to study the reproductive indices of Atya gabonensis and Macrobrachium macrobrachion from Lower River Benue, Makurdi. One hundred and twenty-three (123) specimen of M. macrobrachiom and one hundred and ninety-five (195) specimen of A. gabonensis were collected from the river through hand-picking under the rocks and crevices under the water by the help of fishermen who dived in, while M. Macrobrachiom were trapped using unbated local non-return basket trap made of bamboo and a non-return set trap. The sex ratio, gonadosomatic index and fecundity was estimated. Microsoft Excel (2007) was used analyze the Data obtained from the study. The result of the analysis showed that apart from September and October 2021, the result for egg weight, egg size, gonad weight, gonadosomatic index showed no significant difference. Condition factor differed significantly in August (0.00±0.00) and Oct 2021 (1.34±0.006). All the parameters for reproductive indices of M. macrobrachion were significantly different with better conditions in wet season. The result for sex distribution showed male to be higher than female in a ratio of 1:0.9 mean monthly sec distribution followed the same trend with same ratio. M. Macrobrachion had a ratio of 1:0.68 and A. gabonensis a ratio of 0.92:1 which shows A. gabonensis had more females than males.