J. Exp. Zool. India Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 183-187, 2019 www.connectjournals.com/jez ISSN 0972-0030 A STUDY ON THE OCCURRENCE OF LARVIVOROUS FISHES (PISCES) IN DOON VALLEY (UTTARAKHAND) Shivani Farswan, R. K. Jauhari and N. Pemola Devi1 Department of Zoology, D.A.V.(P.G.) College, Dehradun - 248 001, India. 1Department of Zoology, D. B. S. (P.G.) College, Dehradun - 248 001, India. *e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] (Accepted 27 December 2018) ABSTRACT : Use of Larvivorous fishes is the best medium in controlling immature mosquitoes and thereby in reducing spread of mosquito borne diseases. Several species of fresh water fishes feed on immature stages of mosquito larvae and are of considerable value in controlling mosquito population. A study was conducted in Doon valley with an aim to document the larvivorous fish fauna. Study revealed the occurrence of 20 species of larvivorous fishes under 4 orders, 7 families and 15 genera. Categorization of fish was done as voracious feeder (Trichogaster fasciata, Esomus danrica, Rasbora daniconius, Danio rerio, Gambusia affinis, Poecilia reticulata, Aphanius dispar and Aplocheilus panchax), opportunistic feeder (Channa punctata, Channa gachua, Channa striata, Channa marulius, Mystus vittatus, Mystus tengara, Mystus seengtee and Amblypharyngodon mola) and moderate feeder (Barilius bendelisis, Puntius sophore, Pethia ticto and Devario devario) based on their feeding potential. Key words : Larvicorous fishes, Doon valley, mosquitoes. INTRODUCTION Chatterjee (1963), Singh (1964), Grover (1969, 1970), Biological control refers to the introduction or Husain (1987), Kumar et al (1990), Grover et al (1994), manipulation of organisms to suppress vector population. Rauthan et al (2001, 2005), Husain (2003), Uniyal and A wide range of organisms help to regulate mosquito Kumar (2006), Uniyal and Mehta (2007) and Gupta and populations naturally through predation, parasitism and Rana (2009) added a lot on fishes of Doon Valley. Jauhari competition. As biological mosquito control agents, et al (1996) undertook studies on Larvivorous fish larvivorous fish (i.e., those that feed on immature stages occurring in water bodies of Doon Valley. Hence, on the of mosquitoes) are being used extensively all over the basis of available literature it can be very well said that world since the pre DDT era (Raghavendra and Subbarao, till date no systematic study on larvivorous fish from Doon 2002). Valley has been carried out. Henceforth, to fill up the void in existing knowledge on larvivorous fish diversity In India, mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis) and guppy in water bodies of Doon Valley, the present study is taken (Poecilia reticulata) have been successfully utilized as up. the mosquito biocontrol agent for a long time (Sharma, 1994; Rajnikant et al, 1996; Chatterjee and Chandra, Study area 1997) and Aplocheilus sp. has also been used for this The present study was carried out in the vicinity of purpose (Kumar et al, 1998; Manna et al, 2011) in several Doon Valley. Fish sampling was performed at river Song, cases. Earlier works (Rupp, 1996; Gratz et al, 1996; Suswa and Asan with the help of local fishermen using Morgan and Buttemer, 1996) have revealed the negative respective fishing nets. Exact fishing spots have been impacts of mosquito fish on non-target organisms and on depictive in Fig. 1. Fishes were also collected from local natural ecosystem too. Though a considerable work on fish market. larvivorous fish diversity has been carried out at different MATERIALS AND METHODS places in India (Rama Rao, 2014; Rao et al, 2015; Krishna Firstly, fishes were identified on the basis of et al, 2016; Rao et al, 2017; Gupta et al, 2018). morphometric and meristematic characters and by using In the past, from Doon valley the earlier work on keys and catalogues. The orders have been arranged larvivorous fish was carried out by Hora and Mukerjee phylogenetically and species under a genus followed (1936). Later on after 3 decades, Das (1960), Lal and 184 Shivani Farswan et al Fig. 1 : Study area (Doon valley) showing fish sampling spots. alphabetic sequence. The correct scientific name, common mola (Hamilton, 1822), Rasbora daniconius (Hamilton, name and vernacular name based on IUCN and CAMP 1822), Devario devario (Hamilton, 1822), Danio rerio status are shown against each species. Guppies or Poecilia (Hamilton, 1822), Barilius bendelisis (Hamilton, 1807), sp. were procured from National Institute of Malaria Puntius sophore (Hamilton, 1822), Pethia ticto Research’s based field station at Haridwar (Uttarakhand). (Hamilton, 1822), Gambusia affinis (Baird & Girard, The fishes were acclimatized to laboratory conditions and 1853), Poecilia reticulata (Peters, 1859), Aphanius were supplied with commercial feed. The fish used in the dispar (Ruppell, 1829) and Aplocheilus panchax experiments were sorted by total length to different size (Hamilton, 1822) under 04 order and 07 families were groups. collected during the study period (Table 1, Fig. 2). The Larvivorosity of each fish was measured on the basis following fishes- Trichogaster fasciata (Bloch & of their feeding capacity. For this, the mosquito larvae Schneider, 1801), Esomus danrica (Hamilton, 1822), were released in small glass troughs having fishes. Rasbora daniconius (Hamilton, 1822), Danio rerio Observations were recorded based on larval consumption (Hamilton, 1822), Gambusia affinis (Baird & Girard, by each fish. Thereafter the categorization of fish was 1853), Poecilia reticulata Peters, 1859, Aphanius dispar done as voracious feeder, opportunistic feeder and (Ruppell, 1829) and Aplocheilus panchax (Hamilton, moderate feeder. 1822) were the voracious feeder followed by Channa punctata (Bloch, 1793), Channa gachua (Hamilton, RESULTS 1822), Channa striata (Bloch, 1793), Channa marulius As many as 20 species of larvivorous fishes viz. (Hamilton, 1822), Mystus vittatus (Bloch, 1794), Mystus Trichogaster fasciata Bloch & Schneider,1801, Channa tengara (Hamilton, 1822), Mystus seengtee (Sykes, 1839) punctata (Bloch, 1793), Channa gachua (Hamilton, and Amblypharyngodon mola Hamilton, 1822 as 1822), Channa striata (Bloch, 1793), Channa marulius opportunistic and Barilius bendelisis (Hamilton, 1807), (Hamilton, 1822), Mystus vittatus (Bloch, 1794), Mystus Puntius sophore (Hamilton, 1822), Pethia ticto tengara (Hamilton, 1822), Mystus seengtee (Sykes, 1839) (Hamilton, 1822) and Devario devario (Hamilton, 1822) Esomus danrica (Hamilton, 1822), Amblypharyngodon as moderate feeder (Fig. 3). The largest order was Occurrence of larvivirous fishes in Doon valley 185 Table 1 : List of collected Larvivorous fishes from Doon valley. S. Order Suborder Family Subfamily Species of Fish Feeding Potential No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 Anabantiformes Anabantoidei Osphronemidae Luciocephalinae Trichogaster fasciata Voracious Feeder (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) 2 Anabantiformes Channoidei Channidae _ Channa punctata (Bloch, 1793) Opportunistic Feeder 3 Anabantiformes Channoidei Channidae _ Channa gachua Opportunistic Feeder (Hamilton, 1822) 4 Anabantiformes Channoidei Channidae _ Channa striata (Bloch, 1793) Opportunistic Feeder 5 Anabantiformes Channoidei Channidae _ Channa marulius Opportunistic Feeder (Hamilton, 1822) 6 Siluriformes _ Bagridae Bagrinae Mystus vittatus (Bloch, 1794) Opportunistic Feeder 7 Siluriformes _ Bagridae Bagrinae Mystus tengara Opportunistic Feeder (Hamilton, 1822) 8 Siluriformes _ Bagridae Bagrinae Mystus seengtee (Sykes, 1839) Opportunistic Feeder 9 Cypriniformes _ Cyprinidae Rasborinae Esomus danrica (Hamilton, 1822) Voracious Feeder 10 Cypriniformes _ Cyprinidae Rasborinae Amblypharyngodon mola Opportunistic Feeder (Hamilton, 1822) 11 Cypriniformes _ Cyprinidae Rasborinae Rasbora daniconius Voracious Feeder ((Hamilton, 1822)) 12 Cypriniformes Cyprinoidei Cyprinidae Rasborinae Devario devario Moderate Feeder (Hamilton, 1822) 13 Cypriniformes Cyprinoidei Cyprinidae Rasborinae Danio rerio (Hamilton, 1822) Voracious Feeder 14 Cypriniformes – Cyprinidae Rasborinae Barilius bendelisis Moderate Feeder (Hamilton, 1807) 15 Cypriniformes – Cyprinidae Barbinae Puntius sophore (Hamilton, 1822) Moderate Feeder 16 Cypriniformes – Cyprinidae Barbinae Pethia ticto (Hamilton, 1822) Moderate Feeder 17 Cyprinodontiformes – Poeciliidae – Gambusia affinis Voracious Feeder (Baird & Girard, 1853) 18 Cyprinodontiformes – Poeciliidae – Poecilia reticulata Peters, 1859 Voracious Feeder 19 Cyprinodontiformes – Cyprinodontidae – Aphanius dispar (Rüppell, 1829) Voracious Feeder 20 Cyprinodontiformes – Aplocheilidae Aplocheilinae Aplocheilus panchax Voracious Feeder (Hamilton, 1822) Note: Classification of fish followed Nelson et al (2016). Cypriniformes in which 8 fishes Esomus danrica noteworthy- Rama Rao (2014) reported 58 larvivorous (Hamilton, 1822), Amblypharyngodon mola (Hamilton, fish species from lower Manair dam at Karimnagar 1822), Rasbora daniconius (Hamilton, 1822), Devario (Andhra Pradesh) while Rao et al (2015) reported 22 devario (Hamilton, 1822), Danio rerio (Hamilton, 1822), larvivorous fish from 8 orders from Lake Kolleru and Barilius bendelisis (Hamilton, 1807), Puntius sophore assessed the mosquito larval preference of (Hamilton, 1822), Pethia ticto (Hamilton, 1822), were Amblypharyngodon mola, Colisa lalia, Mystus bleekeri recorded. In order Siluriformes, there were only three fish and Rasbora daniconius. Krishna et al (2016) reported i.e. Mystus vittatus (Bloch, 1794), Mystus tengara 29 species of larvivorous fish from 6 orders, 14 families (Hamilton,