Effects of Dermetes maculatus (Degeer 1774) on some dried fish sold at Baga road market, Maiduguri metropolitan council

Fish is in the diet of most people, regardless of geopolitical, socioeconomic status and age. It is highly nutritious and provides about 50% of total protein requirements for growth and development, especially in children. Thus, fish remains one of the most important sources of food and income for many people in Nigeria and other developing countries of the world.
Materials and Methods: Two smoke-dried fish samples of cat and Tilapia were purchased from Baga Road fish market in Maiduguri to assess the effects of insect infestation caused by Dermetes maculatus. The samples were aseptically transported to the Microbiology laboratory of the Department of science laboratory technology Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri Borno state for entomological analysis. The percentage weights of the fish samples were weighed before and after insect pest infestations. The infested samples were aseptically stored for a period of five (5) weeks.
Results: The results obtained in this study showed that Dermestes maculatus infestation was higher in fish samples stored for five weeks compared the uninfected fish obtained in the same market. However, there was no significant difference between the number of insect pests found in the fish samples at (p>0.05), the proximate analysis shows that the data collected after insect infestation was significance at p=0.05 with p value 0.00005. The carbohydrate contents for cat Tilapia fish before infestation were (3.34%, and 2.02%) respectively on the other hand the they was slight change in the wight of both cat and tilapia fishes after infestation 3.300 % and 2.01 % respectively.
Conclusion: It was observed that insect pest infestation causes great loss and reduces the economic and market value of smoke -dried fish because it degrades and damaged the fish thereby reducing it carbohydrate contents.