Abstract
The main objective of the present study is the investigation of small indigenous freshwater ornamental fish diversity of Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur and Jhargram districts of West Bengal, India and emphasis has been given to their ornamental value and local abundance. Present study is restricted only on the fish species belonging to the genus Puntius. During the study, small freshwater fish species has been surveyed covering all blocks of the three districts under study. Specimens have been collected from different freshwater ecosystems like rivers, ponds, beels etc. and are preserved and identified. It has been observed that the study area represents the existence of nine species of indigenous freshwater small fishes under genus Puntius. Among the recorded nine species, two species, namely Puntius guganio (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822) and Puntius gelius (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822) are being found for the first time from the study site. All the nine species are potential to be regarded as ornamental fish. A detail distributional data has been provided for all the species of the genus from the study area. Therefore, present study will highlight the local macro-faunal diversity of the freshwater fish species under genus Puntius as well as ability to become ornamental fish for aquarium keeping. Record of two small fish species from the freshwater ecosystem of the study area is the new addition to the local fish faunal diversity.
Highlights
The genus Puntius Hamilton-Buchanan (1822) is a large group of small fishes
The specimens were collected from different rivers, ponds, beels, markets of different blocks of Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur and Jhargram district of West Bengalfrom July 2019 to January 2020
Study on the distribution of fishes in particular biosphere is very important to understand the ecological significance of the species
Summary
The genus Puntius Hamilton-Buchanan (1822) is a large group of small fishes. It is a complex genus, which exhibit high degree of variability in colour pattern, size and habitat such as ditches, pond, rivers and hill stream. The genus Puntius has long been recognized as a “catchall” genus for a variety of small tropical Asian cyprinids whose inter-relationships (Kottelat, 1999). They have a good food and ornamental value due to presence of definite amount of carbohydrate, protein, minerals, etc., and different color, spot, band and behavior are attracted aquarist. Abundant diversity of Puntius having 53 species is distributed throughout India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Srilanka, Mayanmar, Thailand, Malaya Archipelago and Southern China (Jayaram, 1991)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
