Research Article
Kuton MP, Adeniyi BT
Abstract
Sarotherodon melanotheron (Ruppell) and Tilapia guineensis (Bleeker) are two dominant cichlids in Badagry and Lagos Lagoon, South-western Nigeria. Comparative racial studies were investigated among these species using multivariate analysis of nine morphometric characters and nine meristic counts of 100 specimens each. The results showed that they were phenotypically separable populations of the same species with some level of divergence in morphometric characters. The data were analysed using independent sample t-test after allometric test revealed significant differences (p < 0.05) in body depth, caudal peduncle depth, and number of gill rakers in Sarotherodon melanotheron while vertebrae, caudal peduncle depth and right gill raker in Tilapia guineensis which were suggested to have occurred as a result of environmental fluctuations, genetic diversity and difference in salinity in the two water bodies.