Inland Fisheries

1.1.3. Freshwater fish biodiversity in India

India is blessed with the vast and varied fish germplasm resources distributed widely in vivid aquatic ecosystems. The Indian fish fauna is divided into two classes, viz., Chondrichthyes and Osteichthyes. The Chondrichthyes are represented by 131 species under 67 genera, 28 families and 10 orders in the Indian region. The Indian Osteichthyes are represented by 2,415 species belonging to 902 genera, 226 families and 30 orders, of which, five families, notably the family Parapsilorhynchidae are endemic to India. These small hillstream fishes include a single genus, viz., Parapsilorhynchus which contains 3 species. They occur in the Western Ghats, Satpura mountains and the Bailadila range in Madhya Pradesh only. Further, the fishes of the family Psilorhynchidae with the only genus Psilorhynchus are also endemic to the Indian region. Other fishes endemic to India include the genus Olytra and the species Horaichthys setnai belonging to the families Olyridae and Horaichthyidae respectively. The later occur from the Gulf of Kutch to Trivandrum coast. The endemic fish families form 2.21 % of the total bonyfish families of the Indian region. 223 endemic fish species are found in India, representing 8.75 % of the total fish species known from the Indian region and 128 monotypic genera of fishes found in India, representing 13.20% of the genera of fishes known from the Indian region.

The Indian fish population represents 11.72% of species, 23.96% of genera, 57% of families and 80% of the global fishes. About 400 species are commercially important which include cultured, cultivable and wild caught species. These fishes have a quite a wide variety of forms and habits which have been reflected in their adaptation to live in markedly varying biotypes, ranging from cold torrential mountain streams to the dark abyssal depth of the seas. The approximate ecosystem-wise distribution of fish germplasm resources of India are: coldwater (73; 3.32%), warm waters of plain (544; 24.73%), coastal brackishwater (143; 6.50%) and marine (1440; 65.45%).

The major groups of freshwater fishes available in india are

cyprinids (family: cyprinidae), live fish (family: Anabantidae, Clariidae, Channidae, Heteropneustidae), cat ish (family: Bagridae, Silurdae, Schilbeidae), clupeids (family: Clupeidae), mullets (family: Mugilidae), featherbacks (family: Notopteridae), loaches (family: Cobitidae), eels (family: Mastacembelidae), glass fishes (family: Chandidae) and gobies (family: Gobiidae). Cyprinidae is one of the largest families and is well represented in India with species ranging from few millimeters in length (minnows) to more than a metre (major carps).