ANALYSIS OF THE FECUNDITY AND GONADAL STAGES OF AFRICAN CARP, LABEO SENEGALENSIS (VALENCIENNES, 1842) FROM THE WHITE VOLTA, GHANA

Abstract

One hundred and fifty specimen of Labeo senegalensis caught by gill nets from the White Volta at Yapei, Ghana were examined for the stages of gonad maturity, eggs, length-weight relationship (LWR) and condition factor during the dry season of 2013. Out of the 150 specimen, 89 were females and 61 were males. The sex ratio of males to females was thus 1: 1.5. Eleven out of the 89 females were found to contain gonads. The stages of gonad maturity ranged from immature stage to maturity stage. The total eggs found in the eleven female was 2,385 with a mean value of 217 eggs per gravid female of the species. The Gonado- Somatic Index ranged from 1.29 to 3.28 with a mean of 2.0 ± 0.57. The total length of Labeo senegalensis ranged from 9.5 cm- 24.6 cm with a mean of 16.0 cm ± 2.86 cm. The body weight of Labeo senegalensis ranged from 20 grams - 212 grams with a mean of 121.34 grams ± 93.89 grams. The LWR of species was highly significant (P<0.001) with r2 of 0.907. The LWR of the Labeo senegalensis was W = 0.180 x TL 2.66 with a slope b of 2.6 which indicated a negative allometric growth pattern (b<3) of the species. The Condition factor ranged from 0.93 to 2.90 and with a mean of 1.926 ± 0.61. The general wellbeing of the Labeo senegalensis was suitable during the study period.