**3.4 Amphibian composition and diversity**

A total of ninety-one (91) individual amphibians were collected in this study. Thirteen amphibian species belonging to three different families were identified: Bufonidae, Hyperoliidae and Ranidae. All these species were collected from the edges (fringes) of the mangrove swamp (**Table 4**).


*The 'E' which was very manifest in the unidentified Hyperolid (Hyperolius sp 1), Hyperolius occidentalis and Afrixalus dorsalis (***Figure A1***). These could be cryptic colourations to enable them escape detection by predators in their exposed habitats.*

#### **Table 4.**

*Abundance and distribution of amphibian fauna encountered in Ijala-Ikeren mangrove swamp and fringes.*


#### **Table 5.**

*Indicative checklist of the fishes found in Ijala-Ikeren wetland.*

Hyperoliidae was the most abundant one among the identified species (eight taxa) with an abundance of fifty-five individuals species. One feature of this group was the tendency to present different morphs (colour shade, pigmentation and design). Among this group, the dominant species was *Afrixalus dorsalis* (family: Hyperoliidae). The rare species were *Hyperolius guttulatus* and *Ptychadena pumilio*, *Hyperolius* sp. 2 and *Afrixalus* sp*.* About 30.8% of the identified species were grass frogs belonging to the family *Ranidae*, the genus *Ptychadena* had the dominant number of species (3 species); *Ptychadena bibroni*, *P. Oxyrhynchus* and *P. Pumilio* (**Table 4**). Meanwhile, only one species; *Amietophrynus maculatus*, was identified belonging to the family Bufonidae.

#### **3.5 Fish fauna diversity**

A checklist of the fish species is presented in **Table 5**. Catfish and Tilapia were the dominant species in the entire study area. A total of twenty representative species were recorded throughout.
