EFFECT OF PHYSICO - CHEMICAL ATTRIBUTES ON THE ABUNDANCE AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF FISH SPECIES IN LAKE TANGANYIKA, BURUNDIAN COAST

The water of Lake Tanganyika is subject to changes in physical and chemical characteristics and resulting in the deterioration of water quality to a great pace. The current study was carried out to assess the physical and chemical characteristics of water at 4sampling stations of Lake Tanganyika and intended, firstly to make an inventory and a taxonomic characterization of all fish species found in the study sites, secondly to determine the pollution status of the selected sites and the impact of physico-chemical parameters on the abundance and spatial distribution of fish species in the Lake. The results obtained regarding the taxonomy and abundance of fish species showed that a total of 75 fish species belonging to 12 families and 7orders existed in the 4 selected sampling stations. Besides, it has been proved that Kajaga and Nyamugari stations were heavily polluted while Rumonge and Mvugo Stations were moderately polluted. Karl Pearson?s correlation coefficient calculated between physico-chemical parameters values and the number of fish species showed strong positive and negative correlation which revealed that physico-chemical parameters have respectively a high influence on the increase and on the decrease of fish species amount in the study environment and at the same time, one way ANOVA and Tukey's Honestly Significant Difference test (Tukey's HSD) showed that the influence of the sampling stations on the abundance of fish species is highly significant (P= 0.007).