Ichthyofaunal diversity of a Ramsar site in Kashmir Himalayas -Wular Lake
Abstract
The present study was undertaken in order to assess the current status of ichthyofaunal diversity of one of Asia’s largest freshwater lakes — Wular, India. In this study the sampling was carried out every month at 5 different sites of Wular Lake which were selected on the basis of different ecological niches. A total of 738 fish species were collected during the entire study. The ichthyofaunal biodiversity observed in this study belonged to 2 orders, 2 families, 4 sub families and 6 genera. The carps viz. Cyprinus carpio (var. communis), Cyprinus carpio (var. specularis) and Carassius carassius contributed more than 82.52 % to the total catch by biomass and 50.79 % to the total catch by number. Shannon-Wiener diversity index showed maximum value (1.476) during summer and minimum value (1.195) during autumn. Similarly, Pielou’s Evenness index and Simpson’s dominance index also showed maximum values (0.856 and 0.645) in summer and minimum values (0.738 and 0.438) in autumn respectively. The study revealed that there was a drastic decline in the native Schizothorax due to encroachment, pollution and other anthropogenic disturbances. Many fish species that had been reported in the lake in the earlier studies were not reported in this study, indicating their disappearance from the lake. Keeping in view the progressively worse situation, there is an urgent need to take remedial steps to conserve the endangered native fish fauna of the lake in order to preserve its biodiversity from further degradation.
References
Ahmad, S., Rahman, A. A. F. M., Mustafa, G. M. D., Hossain, M. B. & Nahar, N. 2012. Nutritional composition of indigenous and exotic fishes of Rainfed waterlogged paddy fields in Lakshmipur, Bangladesh, World. Journal of Zoology 7 (2), 135-140.
Ahmed, I., Ahmad, Z. & Ahmad, I. 2017. Current status of fish fauna of river Jhelum and Dal lake of Kashmir Valley. Bulletin of Pure & Applied Sciences-Zoology, 36 (2), 85-92.
https://doi.org/10.5958/2320-3188.2017.00012.2
Arjumand, S. 2006. Preliminary survey on the status of aquatic biodiversity of river Jhelum in relation to certain biotic parameters, Srinagar, (Kashmir). PhD. Thesis, Barkatullah Univ., Bhopal, 1-86.
Balkhi, M. H. 2004. Aquaculture management in Cold waters: Evaluation of Mahseer fishery potential and its farming feasibility for conservation in Himalayan region. Final report, NATP (ICAR), 1-33.
Bayley, P. & Li, H. 1994. Riverine fisheries. In: Calow, P., Petts, G. E., eds. The river handbook: hydrological and ecological principles. Blackwell, Boston, 1994, 251-281.
Bhat, A. 2003. Diversity and composition of freshwater fishes in river systems of central Western Ghats, India. Environmental Biology of Fishes. 68, 25-38.
https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026017119070
Bhat, F. A., Balkhi, M. H., Najar, A. M. & Yousuf, A. R. 2013. Distribution pattern, density and morphometric characteristics of Schizothoracines (Snow trouts) in Lidder river, Kashmir. The Bioscan, 8 (2), 363-369.
Bhat, F. A., Balkhi, M. H. & Yousuf, A. R. 2010. Fish biodiversity in the Kashmir Himalaya. In: Biodiversity, development and Poverty elevation; International Day for Biological Biodiversity. P. G. Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, 24-27.
Bhat, F. A., Yousuf, A. R., & Balkhi, M. H. 2020. Diversity of fishes in Jammu and Kashmir state. Biodiversity of the Himalaya: Jammu and Kashmir State, 859-887.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9174-4_33
Bibi, F. & Ali, Z. 2013. Measurement of diversity indices of avian communities at Taunsa barrage wildlife sanctuary, Pakistan. The J. Animal & Plant Sciences, 23 (2), 469-474.
Biligrami, K.S. 1988. Biological monitoring of rivers, problems and prospect in India. Aquatic Ecotoxicology, 245-250.
Chalkoo, S. R., Qureshi, T. A., Dar, B. A., Kour, R. & Sodhi, A. S. 2006. Status Of Cold Water Fisheries OF Kashmir. Fishing chimes, 26 (10).
Day, F. 1877. The fishes of India. A natural history of the fishes known to inhabit the seas and freshwaters of India, Burma and Ceylon (Reprinted by Today and Tomorrow book agency, New Delhi). 1-778.
https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.55567
Dudgeon, D., Arthington, A. H., Gessner, M. O., Kawabata, Z. I., Knowler, D. J., Lévêque, C., ... & Sullivan, C. A. 2006. Freshwater biodiversity: importance, threats, status and conservation challenges. Biological reviews, 81 (2), 163-182.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1464793105006950
Dutta, S. P. S. 2003. Fish fauna of Poonch district, Jammu region (J&K state). Journal of Aquaculure Biology, 4 (2), 241-246.
Dutta, S. P. S., Gupta, S. & Salaria, S.A. 2002. Ichthyofaunistic survey of Rajouri District (J & K State), Aquacult., 3 (2), 201-205.
Dutta,S. P. S. & Kour, H. 2005. Ichthyofauna of Jammu district of Jammu region, Jammu and Kashmir State, India. In: Prof. Singh Koli, M. P., ed. Fisheries and Aquaculture in Indus river region. Society of Fisheries Professionals.
Emmanuel, L. O. & Modupe, O. O. 2010. Fish diversity in three tributaries of River Ore, South West, Nigeria. World Journal of Fisheries and Marine Science, 2 (6), 524-531.
Fotedar, D. N. & Qadri, M. Y. 1974. Fish and fisheries of Kashmir and the impact of carp, Cyprinus carpio on the endemic fishes, Journal of Science. 2, 79-89.
Godfrey, P. J. 1978. Diversity as a measure of benthic macro invertebrate community response to water pollution. Hydrobiologia, 57, 111-122.
https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00016454
Granado, C. 2000. Ecologa de communidades el paradigma de lo pecces de agua dulce. Universidad de Sevilla Secretariado de Publicaciones, Sevilla, 2000.
Heckel, J. J. 1839. Fisches Kashmir's in Huegel, C.A.A. Von; Kashmir und Das Reich Der Seik. Bd. 4; abth 2, 351-392.
Hina, 2010. Eco-biological studies of some freshwater ornamental fishes of Jammu. Ph.D Thesis, University of Jammu, Jammu.
Hynes, H. B. N. 1960. The biology of polluted waters. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, England, 1-202.
Jayalekshmy, V & Sanalkumar, M. G (2012). Bi-seasonal variation in the Piscian diversity in relation to physico-chemical parameters of Pallickal River-Kerala, India. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 2 (11), 1-5.
https://doi.org/10.15373/22778179/OCT2013/137
Johnson, J. A. & Arunachalam, M. 2010. Relations of physicalhabitat to fish assemblages in streams of Western Ghats, India. Applied Ecology and Environmental Research, 8 (1), 1-10.
Johnson, J. A., Parmar, R., Ramesh, K., Sen, S. & Murthy, R. S. 2012. Fish diversity and assemblage structure in Kenriver of Panna Landscape, central India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 4 (13), 3161- 3172.
https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3024.3161-72
Jyoti, M. K. & Malhotra, Y. R. 1975.Seasonal variations in feeding of Nemacheilus kashmirensis.Matsya, 1, 53-58.
Kantaraj, G. S, Thirumala, S. & Kiran, B. R. 2011. Fish diversity in relation to physico-chemical characteristics of Bhadra reservoir of Karnataka, India. Advances in Applied Sciences Research, 2 (5), 34-47.
Kaur, S. 2006. Studies on the impact of tourism on streamBanganga and the indwelling macro and microorganisms. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Jammu.
Khan, M. A. 2004. Environment Appraisal of depleting fish diversity of Kashmir Valley. Fishery Management. New Delhi, APH Publication Corporation, India.
Klemm, D. J., Philip, A. L., Florence & Lozoreckak. 1990. Macro invertebrate fi eld and laboratory method for evaluating the biology integrity of surface water. U.S. EPA, EPA/600/4- 90.030 Xii, 1-256.
Kullander, S. O., Fang. F., Delling, B. & Ahlander, E. 1999. The fishes of the Kashmir Valley. In: Nyman, L., ed. River Jhelum, Kashmir Valley, Impact on the aquatic environment.
Lakra, W. S. & Pandey, A. K. 2009. Fish germplasm resources of India with special emphasis on conservation and rehabilitation of threatened species. In: Goswami, U.C. and Kumar, D., eds. Aquaculture Management. Narendra Pub. House, New Delhi, 85-104.
Leveque, C. B. 2008. An assessment of animal species diversity in continental waters. Hydrobiologia, 542, 39-67.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-004-5522-7
Mackey, D. W., Sulsby, P. G. & Poodie, T. 1973. The biological assessment of pollution in stream. Association of the river authorities. Year Book and Directory, London, 189-197.
Mir, I. H. & Channa, A. 2010. A scanning electron microscopic examination of the intestinal tract of the snow trout, Schizothorax curvifrons. Journal of Fisheries Aquatic Science, 5, 386-393.
https://doi.org/10.3923/jfas.2010.386.393
Mishra, R. N. 2013. Carp seed quality improvement program in Nepal. Paper presented in seminar on Aquaculture in Nepal: Recent development and future prospects on 15 Mar, 2013, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Misra, K. S. 1962. An aid to the identification of the common commercial fishes of India and Pakistan. Records of the Indian Museum, 57, 1-320.
https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v57/i1-4/1959/161986
Mittermeier, R. A. & Mittermeier, C. G. 1997. Megadiversity. earth's biolocally wealthiest nation. Cemex, Mexico City, Mexico,
Munro, I. S. R. 2000. The Marine and Freshwater Fishes of Ceylon. Biotech Books, Delhi.
Murugan, S. & Prabaharan, C. 2012. Fish diversity in relation to physico-chemical characteristics of Kamala Basin of Darbhanga, District Bihar, India. International J. Pharmaceutical and Biological Archive, 3 (1), 211-217.
Mushtaq, S.T., Mushtaq, S.A. and Balkhi, M.H. 2018. Ichthyofaunal diversity and CPUE (Catch Per Unit Effort) at Watlab Ghat, Wular Lake, Kashmir. The Bioscan, 13 (2), 683-687.
Nath, S. 1986. A checklist of fishes of Jammu and Kashmir State (India) with remarks on the ichthyogeography of the state, Journal of the Zoological Society of India, 38, 83-98.
Offem, B. O., Ayotunde, E. O., Ikpi, G. U., Ada, F. B. & Ochang, S. N. 2011. Plankton-based assessment of the trophic state of three tropical lakes. Journal of Environmental Protection, 2, 304-315.
https://doi.org/10.4236/jep.2011.23034
Osborne, L. L., Davies, R. W. and Linton, K. L. 1976. Use of hierarchical diversity indices in lotic community analysis. Journal of Applied Ecology, 17, 567-580.
https://doi.org/10.2307/2402637
Othman, M. R., Samat, A. & Hoo, L. S. 2001. Effect of water quality to Fish abundance and Chlorophyll a (a selected aquatic organism) in Labu River-system, Malaysia. Journal of Biological Sciences. 1 (2), 1178-1182.
https://doi.org/10.3923/jbs.2001.1178.1182
Pandey, A. K. & Das, P. 2006. Current status of fish germplasm resources of India and strategies for conservation of endangered species. In: Singh, H. S., Chaubey, A. K. & Bhardwaj, S. K. eds. Proceedings of Recent Advances in Applied Zoology, 1-39. Ch. Charan Singh University, Meerut.
Pastorino, P., Pizzul, E., Bertoli, M., Anselmi, S., Kušće, M., Menconi, V & Renzi, M. 2021. First insights into plastic and microplastic occurrence in biotic and abiotic compartments, and snow from a high-mountain lake (Carnic Alps). Chemosphere, 265, 129121.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.129121
Patra, A. P, Patra, J. K., Mahapatra, N. K., Das, S. & Swain, G. C. 2010. Seasonal variation in physico-chemical parameters of Chilka Lake after opening of New Mouth near Gabakunda, Orissa, India. World Journal of Fish and Marine Sciences 2 (2), 109-117.
Pielou, E. C. 1966. Species diversity and pattern diversity in the study of ecological succession. Journal of Theoretical Biology. 13, 131-144.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5193(66)90013-0
Qadri, S., Bhat, F. A., Balkhi, M. H., Shah, T. H., Hussain, N., Bhat, B. A. & Aalia, S. 2018. Fish biodiversity, catch composition, distribution pattern of fishes in Wular Lake and their conservational measures for sustainable fish production. Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, 7 (6), 1883-1887.
Saxena, D. B. & Koul, D. N. 1966. Fish and fisheries of Jammu and Kashmir State, Part I. Fisheries resources and problems. Ichthyologica, 5, 45-52.
Shafi, S., Bhat, F. A., Parveen, M. & Yousuf, A. R. 2005. Catch composition of fishes from Dal Lake, Kashmir. Journal of Research and Development. Vol:5.
Shannon, C. E. & Weaver, W. 1949. The Mathematical Theory of Communication. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. 54.
Silas, E. G. 1960. Fishes from the Kashmir Valley. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 57 (1), 67-77.
Simon, T. P. & Lyons, J. 1995. Application of the index of biotic integrity to evaluate water resource integrity in freshwater ecosystems. Biological assessment and criteria: tools for water resource planning and decision making, 245-262.
Simpson, E. W. 1949. Measurement of diversity. Nature, 163, 680.
https://doi.org/10.1038/163680a0
Slavik, O. & Bartos, L. 2001. Spatial distribution and temporal variance of fish assemblages in the channelized and regulated Vltava river (Central Europe). Environmental Biology of Fishes, 61, 47-55.
https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011089026140
Sultan, S. & Kant, R. 2016. Survey and Study of fish fauna of River Jhelum (J & K). International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development, 3 (1), 278-280.
Sunder, S., Bhagat, M. J., Joshi, C. B. & Ramakrishna, K. V. 1978. Fishing methods and fish catch composition of Dal Lake, Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) during 1969-72. J. Inland Fish. Soc. India. 10, 9-18.
Vass, K. K., Raina, H. S., Sunder, S., Moza, U. & Langer, R. K. 1984. Proc. Semn. Management Fish.Resources, Jammu Uni., 31-32.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0032-0633(84)90039-4
Welcomme, R. L. 1985. River fisheries. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper, 262, 1-318.
Wilhm, J. L. and Dorris, T. C. 1966. Species diversity of benthic macro-invertebrates in a stream receiving domestic and oil refinery effluents. The American Midland Naturalist, 76, 427-449.
https://doi.org/10.2307/2423096
Wu, C., Maurer, C., Wang, Y., Xue, S and Davis, D. L 1999.Water pollution and human health in China. Environmental Health Perspectives, 107, 251-256.
https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.99107251
Yousuf, A. R. 1996. Fishery resources of Kashmir. In: Khan, A. H. & Pandit, A. K., eds. Ecology, Environment and Energy. University of Kashmir, 75-120.
