ABSTRACT

 The ichthyofauna of Imo River in Nigeria was sampled for 6 months (MarchAugust) at 3 different locations, Umungwa Obowo in Obowo Local Government Area of Imo State, Owerrinta in lsiala Ngwa South Local Government Area of Abia State and Onuimo which is at the boundary between Onuimo Local Government Area and Okigwe Local Government Area both in Imo State. The three locations are about 45km apart. The fishing gears used were cast net and seine net, the total fish specimen caught was 430. Thirteen fish species were caught at Okigwe, eight at Owerrinta and eighteen at Unungwa. Species like Tilapia, Oreochromis,. Chrysichthys, Labeo, Gavialocharax, Citharinus, Odaxothrissa, Gnathonemus, Pellonulla, Petrocephalus, Hydrocynus, Alestes, Sarotherodon and Prawn were caught at Umungwa Obowo. These species, were also caught at owerrinta and Okigwe except prawn andChrysichthys which only occurred in Umungwa Obowo. The total fish specimen caught at Umungwa were 191, while 90 fish specimens were caught at Owerinta and 149 specimens were caught at Okigwe. The total weight of fish caught at Umungwa Obowo, Owerinta, and Okigwe were 7039. 7, 2690.37 and 1536.2 respectively. The cast net caught 5 species while the seine net caught 20 species. Chrysichthys has the highest mean weight of 261.1kg followed by Synodontis with a mean weight of 126.67kg. There is significant difference in total mean length between Oreochromis and Hepsetus (P