Inland Fisheries

7.2.2 Piscine Diversity

The attituditional and geographical variation, mountain slopes expansion of river valley and vegetation cover has given rise to varying climates in different parts of country. As a result, the vast and varied water resources in the uplands harbour rich piscine diversity. The list of fishes comprises 258 species. Belonging to 21 families and 76 genera. Out of these, 255 species are recorded from North East Himalayas, 203 from West and Central Himalayas and 91 from the Deccan plateau. Among the coldwater fishes Salmons, trouts, mahseers and the mirror carp comprise the major chunk of the economically important fishes. Different species of these fishes and major distribution are summarized below.