Geoffrey Odhiambo* and George Osure
The Baringo barb Labeobarbus intermsdius is one of the least studied native fish species in Lake Baringo, a shallow freshwater lake located in the eastern arm of the Rift Valley, Kenya. This study evaluated aspects of its biology to provide baseline scientific information on the species. Fish were sampled using gillnets and their lengths (to the nearest 0.1 cm) and weight (to the nearest 0.1 g) measured on a meter board and electronic balance respectively. Parameters of the length-weight relationship were obtained by fitting the power equation; W=a × Lb to length and weight data. Each fish was dissected to remove the stomach for stomach content analysis. Gonads examined gonads for sexing and determination of maturity stage. Fish size in a total of 280 individual sampled during the study ranged from 6.0 to 36.0 cm total length and 4.3 to 1314 g total weight. The b value of the length-weight relationship was 3.1177 indicate positive allometric growth. Of 254 sexed individuals 107 were males and 147 were female giving a ratio of male to female to be 1:1.38 which was significantly different from the expected 1:1 sex ratio (chi-square test, p<0.05). In this study, all the maturity stages were observed except stages VI and VII in male and VII in females. The most important food items of Baringo barb in Lake Baringo were detritus, algae and seeds but other items were consumed consistently with benthic feeding. There is a need for longer-term studies on the biology of this commercially important species to provide data to guide its sustainable exploitation and conservation
