author(s)
Animem WT, Annune PA, Akombo PM and Agim MU

abstract
The study was to determine the occurrence of pests on selected smoked fish families in Benue state. The common pests identified in the study area were Dermestes maculates, Necrobia rufipes and Blow flies and the selected smoked fish families were Claridae, Protopteridae, Characidae and Mormyridae. The selected fish families were stored for every 3 months in 2 years and the result of the study revealed that Dermestes maculates occurred 51.30%, 52.55%, 52.02% and 53.90%, Necrobia rufipes occured 35.86%, 35.98%, 38.02% and 36.87% while Blow flies occurred 12.84%, 11.47%, 9.97% and 9.22% on the samples of Clariidae, Protopteridae, Characidae and Mormyridae fish families respectively. In all the selected markets and selected fish families the preference of occurrence of Dermestes maculates was the highest, Necrobia rufibes was second while Blow fly was the least. In conclusion Dremestes maculates was the predominant pest followed by Necrobia rufibes and Blowfly was the least.