Check List 13(2): e19661, doi: 10.15560/13.2.2059
Ichthyofaunal diversity of the Omo-Turkana basin, East Africa, with specific reference to fish diversity within the limits of Ethiopian waters
expand article infoMulugeta Wakjira‡, Abebe Getahun§
‡ Jimma University, Ethiopia§ Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia

Corresponding author: Mulugeta Wakjira ( enku2005@yahoo.com )

© 2017 Mulugeta Wakjira, Abebe Getahun.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Wakjira M, Getahun A (2017) Ichthyofaunal diversity of the Omo-Turkana basin, East Africa, with specific reference to fish diversity within the limits of Ethiopian waters. Check List 13(2): 2059. https://doi.org/10.15560/13.2.2059
Open Access
Abstract
The freshwaters of the East African nation of Ethiopia are divided into nine main drainage basins. One of these, the Omo-Turkana basin, spans a large part of southwestern Ethiopian highlands and northern Kenya, and consists of the Omo-Gibe (or simply, Omo) River and a northern portion of Lake Turkana. Despite some development activities, including proposed dam construction with potential impacts on ichthyofaunal diversity, the Ethiopian part of the basin generally lacks comprehensive study or full scientific documentation. During the current surveys 31 species were identified from the lower Omo River and Ethiopian part of Lake Turkana, with some new records for the basin. The Omo River system was found to be richer in species while Lake Turkana has a higher abundance. Ichthyofaunal diversity within Ethiopian waters is specifically addressed, and an annotated checklist for native species of the basin is provided.
Keywords
annotated checklist; Lake Turkana; Omo-Gibe River; freshwater fishes; new records; scientific documentation