Population dynamics and reproductive biology of Barilius bendelisis (Cyprinidae: Cypriniformes) from river Gaula, Central Indian Himalaya Neha Saxena1, Rabindar Singh Patiyal2, Kiran Dube*1 & Virendra K. Tiwari1 1. Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Versova, Mumbai 400061; [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] 2. Directorate of Coldwater Fisheries Research, Bhimtal 263136; [email protected] * Correspondence Received 19-VIII-2015. Corrected 11-III-2016. Accepted 13-IV-2016. Abstract: The Indian hill trout cyprinid, Barilius bendelisis is a member of family Cyprinidae that dwells in shallow, cold, and clear water. In this study, growth parameters and reproductive biology of Indian hill trout, Barilius bendelisis from river Gaula, Central Himalaya region, India, were studied. The length-frequency data were grouped sex wise and were analyzed to determine the growth and mortality parameters using the computer software programme, FAO-ICLARM Stock Assessment Tool (FISAT II). Altogether, 501 individuals were col- lected from river Gaula (November 2013-October 2014) and were preserved in formalin for further analysis. The results showed that the female outnumbered the male population. The minimum GSI of females was observed in the month of October (4.93 ± 0.26) and for males in the month of June and July (0.093 ± 0.12), whereas, the maximum value was in the month of April for both females (13.47 ± 0.52) and males (1.21 ± 0.12). Fluctuation in GSI values had a bimodal pattern showing two peaks during March-May and August-September in both the sexes, indicating the common spawning period of fish. The slope of regression showed the negative allometric growth for both males and females (b= 2.65 for male and b= 2.5 for female). A significant relationship between length and weight was observed in the present study (p < 0.05). The ELEFAN-I estimated L∞ and K of the von Bertalanffy growth factor for males (17.33 cm and 0.310 per year), females (17.33 cm and 0.3 per year) and pooled sexes (17.33 cm and 0.240 per year). The results indicated that Barilius bendelisis is a small sized fish having negative allometric growth that spawns twice a year. Thus, the present study on biological traits repre- sents the baseline information for effective production, conservation and restoration planning. Rev. Biol. Trop. 64 (3): 1287-1295. Epub 2016 September 01. Key words: Barilius bendelisis, sex ratio, gonadosomatic index, river Gaula, India. The Indian hill trout cyprinid, Barilius in Ganga and Brahmaputra drainages along the bendelisis (Hamilton) is a member of family Himalayan foothills. Barilius bendelisis plays Cyprinidae, subfamily Danioninae, dwells in a considerable role in the capture fishery of the shallow, cold and clear water (Gurung et al., Himalayan parts of Arunachal Pradesh, inhabit- 2005). It is characterized by the pointed head, ing in lentic and lotic water bodies where other compressed body, blue/black vertical bands on carps cannot be raised successfully (Sahoo, the lateral side of body and origin of dorsal fin Saikia, & Das, 2009). inserted behind the mid of the body (Talwar & Growth parameters are crucial for sustain- Jhingran, 1991). This fish is an upland water able use and exploitation of aquatic macrofauna fish, found in several countries of Southeast and their management (Yakub, 2010). There- Asia such as India, Bangladesh, Nepal (Talwar fore, understanding the population dynamics & Jhingran, 1991), Myanmar, Pakistan, Thai- of species in a particular condition, spawn- land and Srilanka (Eschmeyer & Fricke, 2011). ing season, growth, mortality, among others In India, this species is commonly distributed are pre-requisite for identifying the proper Rev. Biol. Trop. (Int. J. Trop. Biol. ISSN-0034-7744) Vol. 64 (3): 1287-1295, September 2016 1287 management techniques for the wild population collect, weight and preserve gonads in Bouin’s (Rahman & Hafzath, 2012). for further analysis. B. bendelisis is a popular ornamental spe- The water quality parameters of river cies among aquarists as well as a highly known Gaula were recorded and found in optimum for its food value among Himalayan popula- range throughout the study (water temper- tion; recently it achieved a market price of ature, 8.48-25.2 oC; pH, 7.8-9.1; dissolved Rs 160-200 per kg (US $ 2.43-3.04) (Sharma, oxygen, 7.9-12.2 ppm; total dissolved solids, Akhtar, Pandey, Singh, & Singh, 2015). As 32-114 ppm; alkalinity, 60-75 ppm; phos- per IUCN red list B. bendelisis has been cat- phate,0.00-0.07 ppm; nitrite, 0.00-0.03; nitrate, egorized as least concern (Vishwanath, 2010); 0.01-2.46 ppm and ammonia, 0.00-0.03 ppm). however, however, its population has been gradually declining in natural water bodies Length weight relationship: The length- in the recent past (Sah, Barat, Pande, Sati, & weight relationship was analyzed following Goel, 2011). Therefore, it is important to col- Le Cren (1951) by the formula: Log W = Log lect all the pre-requisite information on the a+b Log L, where, W is the total weight of fish growth and reproduction of this species as a (gram); L is the total length of fish (cm); coef- tool for stock assessment, in order to meet ficient a is the intercept at Y-axis and regres- the need of sustainable management of its sion coefficient b is an exponent indicating the fisheries, and to reduce the pressure on natural growth pattern of fish. resources. Although the reproductive biology The length-weight relationship was esti- and length-weight analysis of B. bendelisis has mated for males and females separately by been described by few authors (Dobriyal & transforming the values into logarithms val- Singh, 1987; Gairola, Singh, Malhotra, Nanda, ues and fitting a straight line by least square & Ghildiyal, 1990; Grower, 1971; Mir, Patiyal, method. The regression coefficient for males & Sharma, 2015) but unfortunately, no studies and females were compared by ANCOVA. on population dynamics have been reported for Additionally, coefficient of determination (R2) this species from river Gaula, Central Hima- was estimated. The Fulton’s condition fac- layans region, India. Therefore, the present tor (K) for male, female has been calculated investigation was taken up to assess the popula- using the formula given by Ricker (1975) as tion dynamics and the reproductive biology of Condition Factor = (Weight of fish)/ (Length B. bendelisis in the river Gaula, Central Hima- of fish)3* 100 layans region, India. The relative condition factor (Kn) (Le Cren, 1951) was calculated separately for both MATERIAL AND METHODS the sexes using the formula Kn = W/W^, where, W is observed weight and W^ is calcu- Study area: In total, 501 specimens of lated weight. B. bendelisis (Total length, 6.25-17.20 cm) were collected based on external marking Population dynamics: The length-fre- (vertical band) on the body from rivers Gaula quency data were grouped sex wise and were (29o17’25’’ N - 79o37’43’’ E), Kumaon region analyzed to determine the growth and mortal- of Central Indian Himalayas at 595 MSL. Sam- ity parameter using the computer software pling was carried out on the monthly basis from programme, FAO-ICLARM Stock Assess- November 2013 to October 2014. The weight ment Tool (FISAT II) (Gayanilo, Pauly, of the fish was recorded with a precision bal- & Sparre, 2005). ance nearest 0.01 g. The total length of each The Powell Wetherell Plot as modified by fish was taken using digital caliper (Mitutoyo). Pauly (1986) was adopted to obtain the ini- After measuring length and weight of fish, tial asymptotic length (L∞) and Z/K. Further, these were dissected to determine the sex, and growth was investigated in terms of Asymptotic 1288 Rev. Biol. Trop. (Int. J. Trop. Biol. ISSN-0034-7744) Vol. 64 (3): 1287-1295, September 2016 length (L∞) and growth coefficient (K) of the weight was observed in the present study (p Von Bertalanffy Growth formula (VBGF) were < 0.05). The results of the analysis of covari- estimated using ELEFAN I (Pauly & David, ance (ANCOVA) revealed a significant differ- 1981). Length converted catch data was used to ence in the regression coefficient of males and compute the mortality (Z). Estimated L∞ and K females (p < 0.05). were used to calculate the growth performance The mean condition factor (K) and rela- index (ϕ’) using formula (Pauly & Munro, tive condition factor (Kn) for females, males 1984): ϕ’ = 2Log10L∞ + Log10 K. and pooled sexes were 1.02, 0.97, 0.99 and 1.12, 1.00, 0.97 respectively. Overall condition Reproductive biology: The sex ratio was factor and relative condition factor of females analyzed month wise during the experimen- (1.02 and 1.12 respectively) was better than tal period. Chi-square formula (Snedecor & males (0.97 and 1.00 respectively). Cochran, 1967) was used to test the expected 1:1 ratio deviation between males and females Population dynamics analysis: The esti- by applying the formula: X2 = ∑ [(O-E)2/E], mated value of L∞, Z/K for males (19.68 cm where, O is observed number of males and and 5.074), females (22.38 cm and 6.841) and females in each month and E is the expected pooled sexes (and 23.93 cm and 8.176) of B. number of males and females in each month. bendelisis as obtained from the Powell Weth- Gonadosomatic index (GSI) was calcu- erall Plot (Fig. 1). The growth performance lated month wise for both the sexes using index (ϕ’) for males, females and pooled sexes formula (De Vlaming, Grossman, & Chapman, were 1.96, 1.95 and 1.85, respectively. The 1982): GSI = (Gonads weight)/(Total weight of ELEFAN-I estimated L∞ and K of the von fish )* 100.