Abstract

Analysis of the stomach contents of Barbus occidentalis from River Uke, Nasarawa State, Nigeria was studied using 219 Barbus occidentalis samples collected between March – August 2017. Food and feeding habit of the sample was done using numerical, frequency of occurrence and volumetric methods. The result showed that the fish fed mostly on phytoplankton (Cyanophyceae (15.84%), Chlorophyceae (12.29%), Filamentous algae (1.09%), three groups of zooplankton encountered were copepods (0.41%), cladocerans (5.56%) and nematode (20.94%), and they also fed substantially on anthropods (7.16%), fish remains, insect larval (1.19%) and benthos organisms (5.68%), the study indicated that the fish is omnivores. There was no significant difference (p>0.01) on the item consumed in wet and dry seasons. The information gathered from this present study serves as a guideline for further research on the river.