Diversity and conservation status of freshwater fishes of the major rivers of northeast India
Keywords:
Ganga, Brahmaputra, Chindwin, threat categoriesAbstract
Northeast India has rich freshwater fish diversity which is attributed to past geological history and the Himalayan orogeny which played an important role in the speciation and evolution of groups inhabiting mountain streams. The region is criss-crossed by numerous rivers belonging to the three major drainage systems: the Barak–Brahmaputra, the Kaladan and the Chindwin. About 100 species of fish have been described from the region by workers from India, as well as from other countries. Fish survey tours have been organized in the past 30 years in the different river systems of the region. Our survey resulted in the description of more than 50 new species of fish. As many as 40 species of fish are endemic to the Chindwin drainage and 22 to the Brahmaputra basin. The fish fauna of the Kaladan is poorly explored. Of the fish species in the Brahmaputra basin, 34% have not been evaluated for IUCN red list criteria, while in the Kaladan, 48.2% have not been evaluated.
References
Abell, R., Thieme, M.L., Revenga, C., Bryer, M., Kottelat, M., Bogutskaya, N., Coad, B., Mandrak, N., Balderas, S.C., Bussing, W., Stiassny, M.L.J., Skelton, P., Allen, G.R., Unmack, P., Naseka, A., Ng, R., Sindorf, N., Robertson, J., Armijo, E., Higgins, J.V., Heibel, T.J., Wikramanayake, E., Olson, D., Lopez, H.L., Reis, R.E., Lundberg, J.G., Sabaj Perez, M.H., Petry, P., 2008. Freshwater Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Biogeographic Units for Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation. Bioscience 58(5), 403–414.
Anganthoibi, N. and Vishwanath, W., 2010. Pseudecheneis koladynae, a new sisorid catfish from Mizoram, India (Teleostei: Siluriformes). Ichthyol. Explor. Freshw. 20(3), 199–204.
Bernhardt, E., Bunn, S.E, Hart, D.D, Malmqvist, B., Moutka, T., Naiman, R.J., Pringle, C., Ruess, M., van Wilgen, B., 2006. The challenge of ecologically sustainable water management. Water policy 8, 475–479.
Daniel, B.A., Sanjay, M., Allen, D., 2011. The status and distribution of freshwater fishes of the eastern Himalaya region, Chapter 7. The status and distribution of freshwater biodiversity in the eastern Himalaya. IUCN, and Coimbatore, India: Zoo Outreach Organization, Cambridge, U.K. and Gland, Switzerland.
Fang, F., 1997. Redescription of Danio kakhiensis, a poorly known cyprinid fish from the Irrawaddy basin. Ichthyol. Explor. Freshw. 7(4), 289–298.
Hamilton, F., 1822. An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches. Archibald Constable, Edinburgh and Hurst, Robinson, London.
Kottelat, M., 1989. Zoogeography of the fishes from Indochinese inland waters with an annotated checklist. Bulletin Zoölogisch Museum 12(1), 1–54.
Kottelat, M., 1990. Indochinese nemacheilines, a revision of nemacheiline loaches (Pisces:Cypriniformes) of Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Southern Vie Nam. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munchen.
Kottelat, M., 2001. Fishes of Laos. WHT Publications (Pte) Ltd.
Kullander, S.O., Fang, F., 2004. Seven new species of Garra (Cyprinidae: Cyprininae) from the Rakhine Yoma, southern Myanmar. Ichthyol. Explor. Freshw. 15(3), 257–278.
Menon, A. G. K., 1964. Monograph of the cyprinid fishes of the genus Garra Hamilton. Memoirs of Indian Museum 14(4), 173–260.
Menon, A. G. K., 1987. The fauna of India and adjacent countries. Pisces. Vol. iv. Teleostei-Cobitidea. Part 1. Homaloopteridae. Zoological Survey of India.
Nelson, J.S., 2006. Fishes of the world. John Wiley and Sons, New Jersey.
Ng, H. H., Kottelat, M., 1998. The catfish genus Akysis Bleeker (Teleostei: Akysidae) in Indochina, with descriptions of six new species. J. Nat. Hist. 32, 1057–1097.
Ng, H. H., Kottelat, M., 2000. A review of the genus Amblyceps (Osteichthyes: Amblycipitidae) in Indochina, with description of five new species. Ichthyol. Explor. Freshw. 14(4), 335–348.
Ng, H. H., Lim, K. K. P., 1995. A revision of the Southeast Asian catfish Genus Parakysis (Teleostei: Akysidae) with description of two new species. Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters 6, 255–266.
Richter, B.D., Mathews, R., Harrison, D.L., Wigington, R., 2003. Ecologically sustainable water management managing river flows for ecological intergrity. Ecol. Appl. 13, 206–224.
Vagholikar, N., Das, P.J., 2011. Damming Northeast India. Action aid, Kalpavrihsh. 1–20.
Vishwanath, W., Ng, H.H., Britz, R., Singh, L.K., Chaudhry, S., Conway, K.W., 2011. The status and distribution of freshwater fishes of the eastern Himalaya region, Chapter 3. In: D.J. Allen, S. Molur, B.A. Daniel (Eds.), The status and distribution of freshwater biodiversity in the eastern Himalaya, pp. 22–41. IUCN, and Coimbatore, India: Zoo Outreach Organization, Cambridge, U.K. and Gland, Switzerland.
Zhang, E., Kottelat, M., 2006. Akrokolioplax, a new genus of Southeast Asian labeonine fishes (Teleostei: Cyprinidae). Zootaxa 1225, 21–30.
Published
Issue
Section
License
Manuscripts must be original. They must not be published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part. It is required that the lead author of accepted papers complete and sign the MSU Press AEHM Author Publishing Agreement and provide it to the publisher upon acceptance.
