Kebede Tirfessa Urga¹ , L. Prabhadevi¹ , Zenebe Tedesse²

1 Department of Biology, Ambo University, Ethiopia
2 Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization (EARO), Fishery and Aquatic life research center, Sebeta, Ethiopia
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2017, Vol. 7, No. 20   doi: 10.5376/ija.2017.07.0020
Received: 20 Sep., 2017    Accepted: 17 Oct., 2017    Published: 24 Nov., 2017

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Urga K.T., Prabhadevi L., and Tedesse Z., 2017, Diversity and biology of fishes in the river Debbis, Ethiopia, International Journal of Aquaculture, 7(20): 126-134 (doi: 10.5376/ija.2017.07.0020)

This study on the longitudinal distribution pattern of fish fauna and fishing activities on Debbis River was carried out during January to March, 2017. Fishes were sampled by using electro fishing and data on the total length and weight were measured. The cyprinids, Garra quadrimaculata, Garra chebera, Varicorihinus beso, Labeobarbus forskalii and Labeobarbus intermedius were observed. The species Garra quadrimaculata and Garra chebera are the most dominant species followed by Varicorhinus beso. Shannon diversity index (H’) ranged from 1.05 to 1.52. Condition factor of the dominant species indicated that the fishes were in good condition with the mean value > 1.00. The highest condition factor value was that of Varicorhinus beso and Garra chebera from site two (Deb₂). Males of Varicorhinus beso and females of Garra chebera were found in better condition. The gut content revealed that the fishes are omnivores. Labeobarbus forskalii, Varicorhinus beso and Labeobarbus intermedius are commercially important and the price is influenced by marketing site, season, size of fish and demand. Fishing is mainly artisanal using cast net, hook and poisoning with the seed of Millettia ferruginea during dry season.

Diversity; Debbis River; Condition factor; Frequency of occurrence