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Morphometric and meristic characteristics of Mugil cephalus (grey mullet) from wetland of Ogun water-side Local Government Area

waters, grey mullet feed on detritus, d ia toms , a lgae and microscop ic invertebrates which they filter from mud and sand through their mouth and gills (Queensland Fish Management Authority, 1991; McDonough and Wenner, 2003). A proportion of the sand is ingested to assist in the grinding of food in the muscular stomach (Michaelis, 1993). The Mugilidae family includes 17 genera and 72 species in the world (Harrison and Senou, 1999; Nelson, 2006). Eight species of Mugilidae inhabit the Mediterranean Sea, and originally classified as part of the single genus Mugil, under different names (M. cephalus, M. ramada, M. labrosus, M. Abstract Investigations on the morphometric and meristic characteristics were conducted on grey mullet, Mugil cephalus collected from wetland of Ogun waterside Local government Area, Ogun state, Nigeria. A total number of ninety-one live specimens were caught from the wetland of Ogun waterside Local government Area, for a period of March to June 2012. The fish were immediately preserved on ice in order to slow down rate of decomposition and their total length (TL) (cm), standard length (SL) (cm), head length (HL) (cm), body width (BW) (cm) and body weight (g), were measured fresh within 24 hours. Its sex was also determined by dissecting out the gonads to reveal eggs or testes. The mean values of total length TL, standard length SL, head length HL, body width and body weight for both male and female of M. cephalus for the month of March to June were 18.0±1.1 and for male and 18.6±0.9 for female (M/F), 14.7±1.0 and 14.7±0.6 (M/F), 3.3±0.2 and 3.2±0.1 (M/F), 3.8±0.2 and 3.0±0.5 (M/F), and 52.3±5.5 and 66.7±1.1 (M/F). Gill raker of M. cephalus gave a different result as there was difference between male and female,108 – 138 (male), and 104 and 148 (female).The growth pattern for male species were near isometric with b = 2.53, female species was negative allometric (b = 2.88) and combined sexes was isometric (b = 2.80). Information obtained from the study will contribute to the baseline data for carrying future studies on its ecology and conservation and development.