Fish is one of the major sources of protein in Nigeria and world-wide. Great losses to fish in storage have been attributed to insect pests and some other pathogenic organisms. In this study, laboratory experiments were conducted to analyze the growth of Dermestes maculatus (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) and its influence on smoked Clarias gariepinus Burchell, Tilapia niloticus Linnaeus and Synodontis nigrita Cuvier, in storage under, ambient conditions.

The experiment was laid using a Completely Randomized Design and replicated three times. The population of D. maculatus at different days after infestation and the respective damage on each fish species was analyzed using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and differences in means were separated using LSD at p<0.05.

The results revealed that the population of D. maculatus was significantly higher on S. nigrita than on T. niloticus and C. gariepinus. The population of D. maculatus and damage caused on each fish species increased with increase in the number of days after infestation.

A significantly higher damage was recorded on S. nigrita while T. niloticus suffered the least damage. The population of D. maculatus significantly correlated positively with the damage recorded on the three fish species.