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1.1.3.2. Fish biodiversity in warm waters
The freshwater of inland resources below coldwater zone are known as warm waters. Coming to the plains, the rivers become wider, the slope is slight and the current is moderate to slow. The warm water aquatic resources harbour abundant fish species. In India, fourteen major river systems share about 83% of the drainage. The important rivers are: Ganga river system, having a stretch of 1600 km from Hardwar (Uttar Pradesh) to Lalgolaghat (West Bengal), Brahmaputra, Indus, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, Narmada and Tapti. The river Ganga harbours 382 species, Brahmaputra 126, Mahanadi 99, Cauvery 80, Narmada 95 and Tapti 57 fish species of warm water origin. However, many species are common to different river systems. There are about 450 families of freshwater fishes globally. Roughly 40 families are represented in India (warm freshwater species). About 25 of these families contain commercially important species. Among 544 endemic warm freshwater fish species in India, Cyprinidae accounts for nearly 24.12% of them. Some commercially important carps include Catla catla, Labeo rohita, Cirrhinus mrigala, L. calbasu, L. gonius, L. bata, L. fimbriatus, L. kontius, Cirrhinus cirrhosa and C. reba. Cat fishes are important groups contributing significantly to the riverine catches and include Aorichthys aor, A. seenghala, Wallago attu, Pangasius pangasius, Silonia silondia, Bagarius bagarius, Rita rita and Eutropiichthys vacha. Finfishes adapted to swampy areas owing to their accessory respiratory organs are known as air breathing fishes. Murrels and other important species of the group are Channa striatus, C. marulius, C. punctatus, Clarias batrachus, Heteropneustes fossilis, Anabas testudineus, Notopterus notopterus and N. chitala. |