Newsletter of the IUCN-SSC/WI Freshwater Fish Specialist Group - South Asia & the Freshwater Fish Conservation Network of South Asia
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Newsletter of the IUCN-SSC/WI Freshwater Fish Specialist Group - South Asia & the Freshwater Fish Conservation Network of South Asia ISSN: 2321-9033 No. 01 | August 2013 www.zoosprint.org/Newsletters/Min.htm Min is registered under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, which allows unrestricted use of articles in any medium for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication. OPEN ACCESS | FREE DOWNLOAD 1 Min | #01 | August 2013 Message from the Co-chairs... Welcome to the first issue of MIN - the half yearly of Cold Water Fisheries) and the National Bureau of newsletter of the South Asia Office of the IUCN SSC/ Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR) gave an impetus to WI Freshwater Fish Specialist Group (FFSG) and the the research on several aspects of freshwater fishes Freshwater Fish Conservation Network of South Asia including breeding, genetics, fishery management (FFCNSA). and conservation. Government organizations and departments in other regions of South Asia, such The South Asia region comprising of the eight as the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), SAARC countries, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Provincial Department of Fisheries and National Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan Agricultural Research Center (NARC) in Pakistan, harbours one of the richest assemblages of freshwater National Warm Water Fish Culture Center (NWWFCC) fishes in the world. The region also encompasses more in Bhutan, Department of Fisheries and Aquatic than 20 freshwater ecoregions, and four biodiversity Resources in Sri Lanka, Department of Fisheries hotspots, the Eastern Himalaya, the Western Ghats- and Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) Sri Lanka, as well as parts of the Sundaland and in Bangladesh have made significant contributions to Indo-Burma. Ichthyological studies in South Asia the development of freshwater fisheries. In addition, started during the latter half of the 18th century by several universities, colleges and NGOs throughout the Peter Simon Pallas and Marcus Bloch, followed by South Asia region have also been involved in several the works of Francis Hamilton, John McClelland, important research connected to inland fisheries, William Sykes, Thomas Jerdon and Francis Day in taxonomy and freshwater fish conservation. the 19th century, and Sunderlal Hora, A.G.K. Menon and K.C. Jayaram in India, and Paul Deraniyagala in Research and policy making on freshwater fishes Sri Lanka in the early and middle periods of the 20th of the South Asia region has gained momentum in the century. Research during the last two decades by recent years. The IUCN Freshwater Biodiversity Unit Rohan Pethiyagoda and his colleagues in Sri Lanka, in collaboration with the Zoo Outreach Organization Remadevi and her colleagues at the Zoological Survey conducted comprehensive assessments of the state of India in India, Muhammad Mirza in Pakistan, and of freshwater biodiversity of Eastern Himalaya Waikhom Vishwanath and his team in Northeastern and Western Ghats in 2010 and 2011 respectively India has greatly improved our knowledge on the identifying species and habitats that need immediate diversity and distribution of freshwater fishes. Several conservation attention. As a result of this growing other ichthyologists such as Heok Hee Ng, Maurice interest and increased need for awareness, capacity Kottelat, Ralf Britz and Sven Kullander have also building and research concerning freshwater made noteworthy contributions to the freshwater fish biodiversity in this region, the South Asia office and taxonomy in the South Asia region. FFCNSA was established in October 2012 under the patronage of Gordon McGregor Reid, FFSG Global The establishment of several research organizations Chair, and with the kind help and support provided in India such as the Central Inland Fisheries Research by Sanjay Molur, Executive Director, Zoo Outreach Institute (CIFRI), National Research Center on Cold Organization, Coimbatore. Water Fisheries (NRCCWF) (currently the Directorate 2 Since its establishment, the South Asia office has Min | #01 | August 2013 been actively involved in several initiatives, some of network, and for their excellent editorial and publishing which are mentioned in this newsletter. Till date, we skills which has helped in bringing out this newsletter have a membership of thirty seven ichthyologists from and all the contributors for their excellent articles. India as well as Bhutan, and are in the process of Special thanks also go to Sanjay Molur for suggesting networking with experts in other South Asian countries. the name ‘MIN’ and Neelesh Dahanukar for designing FFSG South Asia Office and FFCNSA envisage being the ‘MIN’ logo. the focal point for advocacy related to freshwater fish conservation in this region. We hope that this Let us work together to ensure a better future for networking of ichthyologists will help combat the freshwater fishes in the South Asia region. challenges that stand in the way for saving freshwater fishes and habitats - the cause for which IUCN SSC/ Waikhom Vishwanath and Rajeev Raghavan WI FFSG was established and continues to work for. South Asia Co-Chairs We are grateful to the staff at Zoo Outreach IUCN SSC/WI Freshwater Fish Specialist Group Organization, Coimbatore for their continued support (FFSG) and help in running the South Asia office and the MIN (Meen) is a common word between proto Dravidian and Indus languages, which depicts both fish and star in both languages. 3 Min | #01 | August 2013 Contents Freshwater fishes of Western Ghats : Checklist v1.0 August 2013 Neelesh Dahanukar & Rajeev Raghavan, 6-16pp. Vanishing Rice fields around Mumbai Metropolitan Region – A Cause of Fish Loss? Unmesh Katwate, Deepak Apte & Rupesh Raut, 17-20pp. A case of unusual colour morph in Spotted Snakehead Channa punctata (Bloch, 1793) in Nandur-Madhmeshwar wetland, Maharashtra, India Shrikant Jadhav, Prashant Wagh, Sudhakar Kurhade & Anil Mahabal, 21-25pp. Introduction of African Catfish Clarias gariepinus in Bhutan D.B. Gurung, 26p. Northeastern India - a natural repository of stone loaches Yumnam Lokeshwor, 27-29pp. Hill Stream Catfishes: Simply Magnificent, Nothing Catty! Rameshori Yumnam, 30-32pp Fishy Aliens: Invasive Introduced Fishes on the Forts of the Northern Western Ghats Mandar S. Paingankar & Neelesh Dahanukar, 33-37pp. A checklist of the Threatened Freshwater Fishes of Kerala State Rajeev Raghavan, 38-40pp. 4 Min | #01 | August 2013 Freshwater Fish Specialist Group Member list Name Email Institution Field of Expertise Kurian Mathew Abraham [email protected] Marthoma College, Tiruvalla Fish Taxonomy and Diversity T.S. Arunjith [email protected] MES College, Ponnani Taxonomy; Glyptothorax Nongmaithem Anganthoibi [email protected] Manipur University, Canchipur Fish Taxonomy and Diversity Vidyadhar Atkore [email protected] ATREE, Bengaluru Community Ecology; Mahseer Bikramaditya Bakalial [email protected] Dibrugarh University, Assam Diversity and Distribution Sujoy Banerjee [email protected] Habitat World, New Delhi Balitorid loaches Sandeep Behera [email protected] WWF India Mahseer, Reintroduction Diversity, Community Ecology; Anuradha Bhat [email protected] IISER, Kolkata Behavioural Ecology V.V. Binoy [email protected] NIAS, IISc, Bengaluru Fish behaviour and cognition Binoy Krishna Biswas [email protected] CIFRI, Barrackpore Fish Taxonomy and biology Sabitry Bordoloi [email protected] IASST, Guwahati Ecology; Developmental biology Neelesh Dahanukar [email protected] IISER, Pune Taxonomy, Molecular phylogeny Parineeta Dandekar [email protected] SANDRP, Pune Dams; Community protected areas Mrinal Das [email protected] IASST, Guwahati Ecology; Ornamental fishes Nilesh Heda [email protected] Samvardhan, Washim Fish taxonomy; Conservation; Livelihoods Nishikant Gupta [email protected] Kings College, London Freshwater fish conservation; Mahseer Dhan Bahadur Gurung [email protected] College of Natural Resources, Lobesa, Bhutan Freshwater fish conservation K.D. Joshi [email protected] CIFRI, Allahabad Diversity; Conservation Unmesh Katwate [email protected] BNHS, Mumbai Taxonomy, Conservation J.D. Marcus Knight [email protected] Velachery, Chennai Fish taxonomy and diversity Suresh Kumar [email protected] MES College, Ponnani Catfish, larval rearing Lalramliana [email protected] Pachhunga University College, Aizwal Taxonomy and systematics T.V. Anna Mercy [email protected] KUFOS, Cochin Freshwater ornamental fishes K.C. Minimol [email protected] Sree Sankara College, Kalady Fish taxonomy and diversity Madhusree Munsi [email protected] ATREE, Bengaluru Distribution, Conservation prioritization Prakash Nautiyal [email protected] HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar, Uttarakhand Mahseer; Ecology; Biodiversity Mandar Paingankar [email protected] ZOO, Coimbatore Fish biodiversity, Molecular phylogeny Benno Perreira [email protected] CRG, ST. Albert's College, Kochi Fish Ecology, Captive Breeding Siby Philip [email protected] CRG, ST. Albert's College, Kochi Molecular phylogenetics and evolution G. Prasad [email protected] University of Kerala, Trivandrum Natural History; Catfishes Rajeev Raghavan [email protected] CRG, ST. Albert's College, Kochi Freshwater fish conservation Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan [email protected] ATREE, Bengaluru Taxonomy, wetlands K. Ranjeet [email protected]