ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TIGERFISH AND SARDINES IN LAKE KARIBA

SUMMARY

There was a clear relationship in Lake Kariba between the abundance of young-of-the-year (0+) tigerfish and the sardines on which they prey. The abundant sardine population that existed before commercial fishing began accounted for the increase in tiger-fish which occurred at that time. The reduction In the sardine stocks brought about by the fishery appears to have caused a comparable decline of the tigerfish.

KEYWORDS:

• Lake Kariba
• Hydrocynus forskahlii
• Linmothrissa miodon
• predator-prey relationship
• abundance