Fish distribution in Kontagora Reservoir, Niger State, Nigeria

A study of the fish distribution in the inshore, surface and bottom water habitats of Kontagora Reservoir, conducted between January, 2007 and December, 2007 , using a fleet of nine multifilament gill nets of 25.4,38.1,50.8,63.5,76.2,88.9,101.6,127.0 and 177.8 mm stretched meshes, revealed the presence of six species belonging to five families, with the most abundant family being Cyprinidae, followed in order of abundance by the Cichlidae, Mormyridae, Claridae and Bagridae. The mean catches for individual fish families showed no significant variation within the major habitats (p>0.05). Apart from the family Claridae, which was caught, only in the bottom habitats, all other families were caught in the three habitats