Morphometric measurements and growth patterns of four species of the genus Synodontis (cuvier,1816) from Lower Benue River, Makurdi, Nigeria

Abstract

Relationship between basic morphometric measurements and growth pattern of four species of Synodontis from Lower Benue River was investigated bi-monthly from February toOctober, 2009 to determine variations and differences in the growth pattern of the different populations. Morphometric parameters of a total number of 195 specimens of Synodontisclarias, Synodontis membranaceus, Synodontis resupinatus and Synodontis  schall were measured and evaluated by linear regression and correlation. There was a strong positive correlation between body weight and body girth, standard length and body weight, standard length and head length, standard length and body depth, standard length and snout length, standard length and eye diameter and body weight and eye diameter in S. clarias, S. membranaceus, S. resupinatus, and S. schall but the correlation between standard length and eye diameter and body weight and eye diameter in S. resupinatus were low. The growth pattern analysis depicts allometric growth in these species with their ‘b’ values less than 3.   Key words: Synodontis, morphometric, Lower Benue River.