Author(s):

Olawusi-Peters O.O and Ajibare A.O.

Abstract: The richness, diversity and abundance of some shellfishes of the coastal waters bordering Ayetoro, Bijimi, Asumogha and Idiogba of Ondo States, Nigeria were studied from September to December, 2011. Specimens were collected monthly with artisanal fishing boat. Seven species belonging to four families were captured throughout the sampling period and ranged from three (3) to five (5) per trip. The abundance and diversity were determined using Margalef’s diversity index, Shannon-Wiener index, Pielou’s measure of evenness, Berger- Parker dominance Index, Sorensen’s index and the Number of Occurrence Index (NOI).Nematopalaemon hastatus, Farfantepenaeus notialis, Parapenaeopsis atlantica and Portunus validus occurred at the four sampling stations throughout the sampling period. Macrobrachium macrobrachion was not caught in December while Ocypode africana was caught once during the sampling period (in November). All the indices considered showed no significant differences among all the stations except for Margalef’s diversity index (d) and Barger-Parker Dominance index (D) which showed significant difference (P<0.05) between Idiogba and Asumogha. The study revealed that there was a generally high similarity among the crustaceans’ communities in the four sampling stations.

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