Freshwater Fish and Macroinvertebrate Assemblages of Zamboecozone, Barangay Talisayan, Zamboanga City and Tubajon, Dinagat Islands

Fish and macroinvertebrate assemblages of the surface waters of ZAMBOECOZONE, Zamboanga City and Tubajon, Dinagat Islands were assessed using Kick net and D- frame dip net sampling on May 23-2007, 2011 and June 15-22, 2011, respectively, to determine their species richness, composition, diversity, and biotic indices. ZAMBOECOZONE revealed a total of 6 fish species dominated by Poecilia reticulata (RA = 57.63%) and 26 macroinvertebrate species dominated by Caridina typus (RA = 28.1) Tubajon indicated lower species diversity with only 8 fish species dominated by Puntius binotatus (RA = 48.83%) and 7 macroinvertebrate species dominated by C. typus (RA = 63.4%) Macroinvertebrate-based water quality assessment using the Family Biotic Index (FBI), Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP), and Average Score per Taxon (ASPT) suggests that for ZAMBOECOZONE, San Ramon River catchment had fair water quality (FBI = 6.35) , while the stream catchment is categorized as clean but slightly impacted (BMWP= 80 ) and excellent using the ASPT matrix (6.15). In Tubajon, Diaz-Mabini catchment is categorized as having fairly poor water quality (FBI = 6.67), while Navarro catchment is categorized as excellent under the ASPT matrix (8). While biotic indices provide a rapid ecological and health assessment of surface waters, temporal and spatial monitoring of macroinvertebrate assemblages provides better appraisal, especially when coupled with relevant physical and chemical monitoring.