THE MORPHOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS AND MERISTIC TRAITS AND CONDITION FACTORS OF Sarotherodon galilaeus FROM THREE MAJOR RESERVOIRS OF EKITI STATE, NIGERIA

The study was carried out between July to October 2018. Seventy-one (71) S. galilaeus(48.6%) from Ado reservoir, Sixty-nine (69) from Egbe- reservoir (47.3%) and six (6) from Ero- reservoir (4.1%) making a total number of one hundred and fourth-six (146) respectively. The fish samples were collected directly from fishermen at the bank of each reservoir. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used. The mean body weight and total length of the fish were 179.28± 53.71c and 21.17 ± 2.21c, 102.71 ± 41.78b and 17.75 ± 2.30b and 61.60 ± 2.207a and 15.17 ± 1.37a from Ado, Egbe and Ero respectively. The results recorded on the mean body weights and total lengths of the fish from the three populations are statistically different. But there are morphologically similarities between and among the three populations. Principal component analyses and cluster analyses were further used to determine the closeness of the morphological characters using paleontological statistics (PAST) software. The condition factors (K) values are 0.1 ± 0.04, 0.18 ± 0.04 and 2.5 ± 0.8 from Ado, Egbe and Ero reservoirs respectively. The condition factors value from Ero population was significantly different from the other two populations showed that the two populations (Ado and Egbe) unlike Ero population are not well fed. The robustness of the fish from Ero reservoir may be as a result of enough fertility of the reservoir or that there was a lesser competition from other fish species for the available food resources. There is need to determine the condition factor(s) which favours the growth and development of the fish from Ado (Ureje) and Egbe reservoirs.