OPEN ACCESS The Journaf of Threatened Taxa fs dedfcated to buffdfng evfdence for conservafon gfobaffy by pubffshfng peer-revfewed arfcfes onffne every month at a reasonabfy rapfd rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org . Aff arfcfes pubffshed fn JoTT are regfstered under Creafve Commons Atrfbufon 4.0 Internafonaf Lfcense unfess otherwfse menfoned. JoTT affows unrestrfcted use of arfcfes fn an y medfum, reproducfon, and dfstrfbufon by provfdfng adequate credft to the authors and the source of pubffcafon. Journaf of Threatened Taxa Buffdfng evfdence for conservafon gfobaffy www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Onffne) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Prfnt) Communfcatfon Freshwater ffsh fauna of Hfranyakeshf Rfver, the northern Western Ghats, Indfa Pradeep Kumkar, Sanjay S. Kharat, Nffn S. Sawant, Unmesh Katwate & Neefesh Dahanukar 26 May 2017 | Vof. 9| No. 5 | Pp. 10178–10186 10.11609/jott. 3126 .9.5 .10178-10186 For Focus, Scope, Afms, Poffcfes and Gufdeffnes vfsft htp://threatenedtaxa.org/About_JoTT For Arfcfe Submfssfon Gufdeffnes vfsft htp://threatenedtaxa.org/Submfssfon_Gufdeffnes For Poffcfes agafnst Scfenffc Mfsconduct vfsft htp://threatenedtaxa.org/JoTT_Poffcy_agafnst_Scfenffc_Mfsconduct For reprfnts contact <[email protected]> Pubffsher/Host Partner Threatened Taxa Journaf of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 May 2017 | 9(5): 10178–10186 Freshwater ffsh fauna of Hfranyakeshf Rfver, Communfcatfon the northern Western Ghats, Indfa ISSN 0974-7907 (Onffne) Pradeep Kumka r 1 , Sanjay S. Kharat 2 , Nffn S. Sawant 3 , U nmesh Katwate 4 & ISSN 0974-7893 (Prfnt) Neefesh Dahanukar 5 OPEN ACCESS 1,2,3 Department of Zoofogy, Modern Coffege of Arts, Scfence and Commerce, Ganeshkhfnd, Pune, Maharashtra 411007, Indfa 4 Schoof of Ocean Scfence and Technofogy, Kerafa Unfversfty of Ffsherfes and Ocean Studfes (KUFOS), Kochf, Kerafa 682506, Indfa 4 Bombay Naturaf Hfstory Socfety (BNHS), Hornbfff House, Opp. Lfon Gate, Shaheed Bhagat Sfngh Road, Mumbaf, Maharashtra 400001, Indfa 5 Indfan Insftute of Scfence Educafon and Research, G1 Bfock, Dr. Homf Bhabha Road, Pashan, Pune, Maharashtra 411008, Indfa 5 Systemafcs, Ecofogy and Conservafon Laboratory, Zoo Outreach Organfzafon, No. 12 Thfruvannamafaf Nagar, Saravanampaf - Kafapaf Road, Saravanampaf, Cofmbatore, Tamff Nadu 641035, Indfa 1 [email protected], 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected], 4 [email protected], 5 [email protected] (correspondfng author) Abstract: The freshwater fsh fauna of Hfranyakeshf Rfver, a trfbutary of the Krfshna Rfver System, orfgfnafng fn the Western Ghats of Maharashtra, was studfed for a perfod of three years from 2013–2016. We reported 57 specfes befongfng to seven orders, 17 famfffes and 42 genera. Cyprfnfformes was the most specfes rfch order foffowed by Sffurfformes, whffe Cyprfnfdae was the most predomfnant famffy. At feast 21 freshwater fsh specfes found fn Hfranyakeshf Rfver are endemfc to rfver systems orfgfnafng from the Western Ghats, whffe nfne specfes are endemfc to the Krfshna Rfver system. The true dfversfty of freshwater fshes fn thfs regfon, however, fs sfff obscure because of fack of detaffed taxonomfc studfes fn thfs regfon. Of the totaf specfes, at feast 11 are fn the threatened and near threatened categorfes of the IUCN Red Lfst and Hfranyakeshf Rfver hofds a good popufafon of most of these specfes. The fsh fauna fn thfs regfon, however, fs threatened by severaf stressors fncfudfng fnvasfve fshfng pracfces, water fmpedfment due to upcomfng dams, fnvasfve fntroduced specfes and water poffufon due to agrfcufturaf runofs and fndustrfaf efuents. Keywords : Amboff, Krfshna Rfver System, Pterocrypfs , Orefchthys , Monopterus . DOI : htp://dof.org/10.11609/jot.3126.9.5. 10178-10186 | ZooBank: urn:fsfd:zoobank.org:pub:BEBEA527-5065-459B-B869-1B212E589866 Edftor: Anonymfty requested. Date of pubffcafon: 26 May 2017 (onffne & prfnt) Manuscrfpt detaffs: Ms # 3126 | Recefved 14 November 2016 | Ffnaffy accepted 13 Aprff 2017 Cftafon: Kumkar, P., S.S. Kharat, N.S. Sawant, U. Katwate & N. Dahanukar (2017). Freshwater fsh fauna of Hfranyakeshf Rfver, the northern Western Ghats, Indfa . Journaf of Threatened Taxa 9(5): 10178–10186 ; htp://dof.org/10.11609/jot.3126.9.5. 10178-10186 Copyrfght: © Kumkar et af. 2017 . Creafve Commons Atrfbufon 4.0 Internafonaf Lfcense. JoTT affows unrestrfcted use of thfs arfcfe fn any medfum, reproducfon and dfstrfbufon by provfdfng adequate credft to the authors and the source of pubffcafon. Fundfng: The study was parfaffy supported by UGC-MRP [47-914/14 WRO] to Sanjay Kharat; Crffcaf Ecosystem Partnershfp Fund(CEPF) Western Ghats smaff grant through the Ashoka Trust for Research fn Ecofogy and Envfronment (ATREE) (CEPF-ATREE-WGhats/SGP/WGSG186–BNHS_FISHES) to Unmesh Katwate; and INSPIRE Facufty Feffowshfp [IFA12-LSBM-21], Department of Scfence and Technofogy, Indfa to Neefesh Dahanukar. Compefng fnterests: The authors decfare no compefng fnterests. The fundfng agency had no rofe fn the study desfgn, resufts fnterpretafons or manuscrfpt wrffng. For Author Detaffs & Author Contrfbufon: see end of thfs arfcfe. Acknowfedgements: We thank Deepak Apte, Dfrector; and Rahuf Khot, Curator of Naturaf Hfstory Coffecfon department, for thefr hefp durfng the study of museum specfmens and regfstrafon of specfmens fn Bombay Naturaf Hfstory Socfety (BNHS), Mumbaf; Sanjay Mofur, Execufve Dfrector; and Prfyanka Iyer, curator of fsh coffecfon, for hofdfng our specfmen vouchers fn the museum coffecfon of Wffdfffe Informafon Lfafson Devefopment (WILD) Socfety, Cofmbatore. PK and NS are thankfuf to the Head, Department of Zoofogy, Modern Coffege of Arts, Scfence and Commerce, Ganeshkhfnd, Pune, for provfdfng facffffes. We are afso thankfuf to Abhfjeet Gharat, Arjun CP, Mandar Pafngankar, Nfkhff Sood, Prakash Tambekar, Prafk, Saahff Acharya, Sachfn Gosavf, Sachfn Sawant, Swapnff Chaudharf for thefr assfstance fn the fefd. We are afso thankfuf to Vfnayak Ajgekar for hefpfng us wfth examfnafon of Angufffa bengafensfs specfmen from Ajara Coffege. LOGOs 10178 Fishes of Hiranyakeshi River Kumkar et al. INTRODUCTION till 2016. The Western Ghats of India, together with Sri Lanka, is considered as one of the major biodiversity hotspots MATERIALS AND METHODS of the world (Myers et al. 2000). Currently, 320 species of freshwater fishes under 11 orders, 35 families and Fish collection was done from June 2013 till May 2016 112 genera are known from the Western Ghats, of at 14 different localities spread out on approximately which 66% are endemic to this zoogeographical region 60km stretch of the Hiranyakeshi River (Fig. 1). Fishes (Dahanukar & Raghavan 2013). This rich diversity of were collected using cast net, gill net, drag net and fishes is under threat due to several anthropogenic scoop net with the help of local fishermen. Local stressors (Dahanukar et al. 2011) and about 47% of the market at Ajara (16.1190N & 74.2110E) was also visited endemic fishes in this region are under threatened and to examine species that were missed out on surveys. near threatened categories (Dahanukar & Raghavan A limited number of specimens of each species were 2013). A major hindrance in the conservation action in collected and preserved in 4% formaldehyde. Collected this area is the lack of base line data on species diversity fish specimens are deposited in the museum collection and distribution. As compared to the southern Western of Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Mumbai; Ghats, the northern region is relatively less studied for its and the Wildlife Information Liaison Development fish diversity (Dahanukar et al. 2011). This is especially (WILD) Society, Coimbatore. Some taxonomically true for several upstream tributaries of the Krishna River unambiguous fish species were not collected because System, where virtually no information exists. One such of different logistic reasons. Further, a few species river is the Hiranyakeshi River that originates in the could be identified only at the genus level as they show Western Ghats of southern Maharashtra. marked difference from known species. These species The river Hiranyakeshi originates at about 840m near are not deposited in the museum collection as further Amboli (15.9540N & 74.0270E), in Sindhudurg District, studies on them are in progress. Fish identification was Maharashtra State, India (Fig. 1). It is surrounded by confirmed using available literature (Menon 1987; 1992; tropical evergreen and moist deciduous forest in the Talwar & Jhingran 1991; Jayaram 1991; 2010; Jayaram & upstream and agricultural lands, which are mainly under Dhas 2000; Jayaram & Sanyal 2003; Katwate et. al. 2014; cultivation of rice and sugarcane, in the down streams Knight & Kumar 2015). Current taxonomic status mainly (Image 1). It flows eastwards about 90km and merges follows Eschmeyer et al. (2016). Threat status of the fish with Ghataprabha, which ultimately drains in the was obtained from IUCN (2016) and is provided for only Krishna River system. Detailed documentation of the indigenous species which could be identified at species fish fauna of this river is not available. Although Jayaram level and is not provided for introduced, transplanted (1995), while examining the fish fauna of tributaries of and species whose species identification could not be Krishna River system, mentions collection sites from confirmed. Endemism was assessed at Western Ghats Ghataprabha River he did not sample the fish fauna from assessment region (for definition see Molur et al. 2011) its upstream. Further, Kalwar