Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

A SUMMATIVE STUDY OF THE LENGTH-WEIGHT EQUATION, CONDITION AND LIVER INDICES OF THE WEST AFRICAN MUDSKIPPER, PERIOPHTHALMUS BARBARUS (GOBIIDAE) FROM QUA IBOE RIVER ESTUARY, NIGERIA

Mfon T. Udo and Eyo E. Ambrose

Abstract

The length-weight relationship of Periophthalmus barbarus (Linne, 1766) collected year-round from estuarine swamp of Qua Iboe River, Nigeria, was studied. It was found that mature mudskippers are fatter than spent individuals, and that this supposedly affected mainly the exponent b (TW = a TLb). While the males are nearly of equal fatness to the females, a slightly noticeable high value of the exponent b is recorded for the males, with the expected higher weight of gonads of females notwithstanding. The larger fish are more fecund than the smaller and younger individuals; this is revealed by comparison of the condition, k, hepatosomatic, HSI, and gonadosomatic, GSI, indices for the ripe and spent fish respectively.