| FishBase | Complete | Literature | Reference | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Species | Families | Species | Families | |||
| Marine | No | |||||
| Freshwater | 139 | 29 | No | Daget, J., J.-P. Gosse and D.F.E. Thys van den Audenaerde, 1984 | ||
| Total | 135 | 29 | No | |||
| Conservation | The following information is to be sought: - Status of knowledge of the freshwater fauna; - Existence of conservation plans; - Information on major aquatic habitats or sites within the country; - Current major threats to species; - Future potential threats to species; - Contact(s) for further information. |
| Geography and Climate |
Chad is a landlocked country, shaped like a shallow basin cut in half and has a surface area of 1,284,000 sq. km. Lake Chad itself lies at the bottom with an altitude of 280 m. The land rises to the north (where the Tibesti Mountains reach altitudes as high as 3,400 m), to the east to the highlands of Sudan, and to the south to the Chari watershed. The southwest of the country is heavily wooded, but the country rapidly becomes desertic toward the north.
Most of the southern Chad has a prolonged rainy season; heavy rains last from April through October. Nearer the centre of the country the season becomes shorter (June-September), and north of Lake Chad there is little rainfall.
The south of Chad has an agrarian population, living mainly on subsistence agriculture. The north is desert and inhabited only by nomadic tribes. The Sahelian transitional savanna is used mainly by pastoral people for grazing cattle, sheep and goats. Ref. Vanden Bossche, J.-P. and G.M. Bernacsek, 1990 |
| Hydrography |
Lakes: Lake Chad fluctuates in area in a pronounced cycle thought to be some 25 years long. This lake exists in two phases: the Greater Chad in pluvial periods, and the Lesser Chad in drought. During its Greater Chad phase, half of the lake's 22,000 sq. km. lies within the country. In its more recent (1978) diminished state, about 1,200 sq. km. of the remaining 2,000 sq. km. of open water were left around the mouth of the Chari River. Apart from Lake Chad itself, there are several smaller lakes. In the Chad Basin there is Lake Iro (situated on the Salamat River floodplain, which extends over 200 sq. km.), and Lake Fitri (a Lake Chad in miniature to the east of the main lake, which extends over 420 sq. km. but can reach 1,200 sq. km. in the rainy season). There are a further four small lakes lying along the Toubouri Depression of the Mayo Kebi River in the flood season, but during the dry period these are much smaller. Lake Tikem ha an area of 14 sq. km.; Lake Fianga, 28 sq. km.; Lake Lere, 40.5 sq. km.; and Lake Trene, 12 sq. km.
Reservoirs: there are no important impoundments in Chad.
Coastal lagoons: none; Chad is landlocked. Ref. Vanden Bossche, J.-P. and G.M. Bernacsek, 1990 |