Proximate composition and breeding description of an unidentified Cichlid of Epe Lagoon, Lagos, Southwest, Nigeria commonly called ‘Wesafu’

Abstract

A common cichlid of the Epe Lagoon, Lagos, Nigeria is an important food fish and viable candidate for 
culture in meeting the millennium goal and vision 2020 in the subregion. The intense fisheries of this 
ecotype also pose a conservation issue. The comparative protein contents of the cichlid fishes were 
21.80, 18.34, 19.13, 18.71 and 18.08% for Wesafu, Sarotherodon galileaus, Sarotherodon melanotheron, 
Tilapia guineensis and Tilapia mariae, respectively. The highest percentage of protein was obtained for 
Wesafu. The results of the lipid determination showed that Wesafu had 0.9% lipid which is higher than 
others with T. guineensis having the least (0.4%) value for lipid. The result showed that all the fish 
studied belong to low oil category and therefore can be classified as lean fish. The major component of 
fish muscle is moisture. There was a progressive increase in the number of ripe eggs (absolute 
fecundity) from larger fish to smaller one. However, the relative fecundity followed a reverse order. 
Female Wesafu produce only a few hundreds to less than 2,000 eggs per spawn but inter-spawning 
period varied from 25 to 30 days in the present study. It was observed that this parameter (spawning 
frequency) was not affected by the weight of the broodstock. Although Wesafu could be seen as a 
commercially important fish species based on its credentials of deeper body, high economic value, in 
terms of price, white flesh and good taste, its aquaculture potential may be affected by its low 
fecundity. On the courtship behavior, Wesafu exhibits a characteristic golden yellow radiation during 
breeding period. During courtship, the fish display a characteristics kissing lifestyle. This appears 
different from that of Oreochromis niloticus which displays a poking courtship behavior with the female 
swimming in front while the male pokes the side. The result of this finding showed that of all the 
brooders in all hapas, only females that had eggs/hatchlings in their mouthparts. This comes to show 
that Wesafu probably belong to the genus, Oreochromis. Although this study has identified Wesafu as a 
probable member of the genus, Oreochromis, there is the need to identify the fish at a molecular level 
to see if it belongs to any of the known species of Oreochromis, or perhaps a simple strain.