Ethnomedicinal use of fishes by tribal communities in India: A review

Abstract

Study on fish based Zootherapy could be a viable option for discovery of new compounds with therapeutic potentials. In India from primitive time animals are used as medicine to cure different diseases by tribal communities. However, the present generation attitude toward traditional medicine as being unscientific and acculturation are the main causes of decline of such practices in tribal societies. The present review article describes the traditional knowledge of the ichthyotherapy, the use of fishes as medicine to cure human different diseases by tribal communities of India. Respondent listed about 45 fresh water fish species, which are used in primary health care needs of human being. Head, eyes, blood, gall bladder, bile, flesh, fins, bones, mucous, air bladder, otolith etc. are most commonly used parts to treat diseases such as asthma, cough and cold, chicken pox, small pox, kala-azar, diarrhea, malaria, anemia, general weakness, Premenstrual pain, abdominal pain, headache, fever, arthritic etc. The findings are more important for remedial measure and documentation although these have to be tested scientifically and clinically. It is essential to study in detail the use of these fish parts which may in future help medical science and also call for conservation of these fishes. Study on ichthyotherapy could be a viable option for discovery of new compounds with therapeutic potentials. The present ichthyotherapy work has been studied from different published research paper of various authors on ethnozoology/ zootherapeutic studies in India from 1987 to 2020 and it gave us an idea that many types of diseases are cured by fishes and their body parts.