Ichthyofaunal Diversity of Tipkai River in Assam, India

Abstract

Assam is endowed with dynamic rivers and lakes which in turn facilitates a rich diversity of fish species. The western Assam geographically blessed with such a river named Tipkai. Tipkai River is a Himalayan tributary of the Brahmaputra River in the Indian state of Assam which raises in the Bhutan hills flows through the Kokrajhar (BTR) and through Dhubri district of Assam and joins the Brahmaputra River at Chatakurachar of Dhubri district. The present study deals with the extensive Ichthyological fields survey conducted over a period of oneyear from January 2021 to December 2022 based on the data collected from six locations of the river from the Mahamaya (Bagribari) to Chatakurachar. The survey revealed the occurrence of great range of diversity of fishes representing 106 species distributed under 10 orders and 31 families. Among the recorded fish species 4 species are Vulnerable (VU), 2 species are Near Threatened (NT), 3 species are Endangered (EN),86 species are least concern (LC) while 3 species are Not Evaluated (NE), 2 species are Data Deficient (DD) with 65 genus, 10 order and 30 families. The highest order Cypriniformes with 49 species, Siluriformes 27 species Perciformes 17 species. The site Khoraghat represents the lowest fish diversity among the six sites during the study period might be due to sand mining and other anthropogenic reasons which needs further analysis of water quality. Thus, this beautiful river, a small tributary from Bhutan serves the land cover and maintains its beautiful biodiversity and also the lifeline for mankind.