Abstract

Introduction: Fish is an important source of protein. The economic importance of fish production has led to industrialization of fishing. Encroaching activities on their natural habitats have led to the depleting population of both food and wild fishes, such as Erpetoichthys calabaricus that are near threatened. Because little or no anatomical information is available on Erpetoichthys calabaricus, there is a need to investigate the anatomy of Erpetoichthys calabaricus to provide the basic data for this species of fish.

Methods: Five females Erpetoichthys calabaricus was used for this study. The reed fishes were subjected to cold shock and then dissected for gross observation. The body parameters were measured using plastic tape rule and all data subjected to statistical analysis using Graph pad Prism 4.0

Results: The average head length was (3.5 ± 0.26) cm while its body length was (17.9 ± 0.10) cm. Most of the visceral organs were located cranially while the liver and a pair of kidneys extends caudally to the anal pore. However, the lungs did not extend to the caudal most of the coelomic cavity. The length of the gastrointestinal tract spanned from the base of the head to the anal pore. Two flexures were present in the stomach: the cranial and the caudal flexures.

Significance: The splanchnic anatomy investigated in this study was generally similar to other species of fish. Conclusively, the data generated would be useful for comparative fish anatomy and conservation of the fish.

Keywords: Caudal flexure, Coelomic cavity, Cranial flexure, Erpetoichthys calabaricus, Gastrointestinal tract

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