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ABSTRACT
This study on catch and species composition of some edible marine and brackish water crabs in the Great Kwa River, Nigeria was aimed at determining the species composition of sampled crabs per study site, to determine the species abundance of the sampled crabs per study site (the number of species found in the site), to determine the total species composition in all the sites throughout the study, to determine the percentage species composition in all the sites throughout the study. The following species;Callinectes amnicola, C. Pallidus and C.Marginatus belonging to the family (portunidae) were recorded between July and September, 2019 at Esuk Atu, Obufa Esuk and Esuk Anantigha beaches. A total of 55,915 crabs were recorded at the Esuk Atu Beach with 36,663 at Obufa Esuk Beach and 31,798 at Esuk Anantigha Beach. Callinectesamnicola was the most abundant crab species during the study period; with a total of 51, 292 individuals (40.27%). This was followed by C. Pallidus with 39,257 individuals (30.82%) and C. marginatus with 36,827 individuals (28.91%). In all the sampling sites, Esuk Atu, Obufa Esuk and Esuk Anantigha beaches a total number of 127,376 individuals crab was collected. No significant relations were found to exist between species abundance of the crab per sampling occasion and sampling sites during the survey (p<0.05) based on the results of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).
