LENGTH – WEIGHT, CONDITON FACTOR AND INTESTINAL - BODY LENGTH RELATIONSHIP OF Mormyrops deliciosus AND Papyrocranus afer IN IKPOBA RIVER, BENIN, EDO STATE, NIGERIA.

ABSTRACT                                                                   

The morphometric analysis of Mormyrops deliciosus and Papyrocranus afer was carried out in Ikpoba River, Benin City. A total of seventy-seven specimens of the two species belonging to the family Mormyridaeand Notopteridae, respectively, were sampled between October 2023 and March 2024. Specimens were transported to the laboratory and morphometric indices such as Total Length (TL), Standard Length (SL) and Body Weight (BW) were assessed using standard methods. The standard length and body weight of M. deliciosus ranged from 52.60cm to 184.1cm and 883.17cm to 3091.1cm, while the standard length and body weight of P. afer ranged from 31.38cm to 345.2cm and 119.38cm to 1313.2cm, respectively. The growth coefficient (b) was between 0.6874 and 1.2463 for M. deliciosus and P. afer, respectively. Results showed that M. deliciosus and P. afer exhibited positive allometric growth. The intestine length of M. deliciosus ranged from 7.43cm to 26.0cm, while body length ranged from 9.83cm to 34.4cm and the intestinal length of P. afer ranged from 8.98cm to 98.8cm, while the body length ranged from 8.32cm to 91.5cm. Following standard gut length ratio for classification of fish feeding habit (<100 omnivore and >100 carnivore), M. deliciosus and P. afer from Ikpoba River can be classified as omnivore and carnivore, having ratios of 85.0% and 567%, respectively. Mean condition factor (K) values were greater than one for all species and varied monthly. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the condition factor among the species across the sampling duration.