Research Journal of Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences ___________________________ ISSN 2320 – 6535 Vol. 2(8), 5-10, August (2014) Res. J. Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sci. International Science Congress Association 5 A Note on Fresh water Fish diversity in major Tributaries of River Bedti of Western Ghats region of Karnataka, IndiaSooryanarayan S. Bhat* and Anil kumar K. Hegde M.M. Arts and Science College, SIRSI-581402, Uttara Kannada, Karnataka, INDIAAvailable online at: www.isca.in, www.isca.me Received 14th July 2014, revised 2nd August 2014, accepted 20th August 2014 AbstractThe present report describes the status of fish diversity in the major tributaries of river Bedti of Western Ghats region of Karnataka. Fresh water offers very common and suitable habitats of the Biosphere. It has characteristic features in chemical, physical properties and hosts a large biodiversity which have adapted to dynamic environment. It has a well-defined food chain and food web through which energy is channelized and community. The present work was carried from June 2013 to June 2014. Fishes were caught with the gill net, cast net and drag net of suitable dimensions. The fishes were soon preserved and sent to the ZSI Kokatta for identification. The identified fishes were classified up to families. Highest fish diversity was recorded in Pattanahole. Keywords: Fresh water, fish diversity, major tributaries, taxonomy, puntius sp. IntroductionThe study area is mainly located in Uttara Kannada district depicted in figure-1. Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka state has a geographic area of 10,291sqm and situated strategically in the middle of the Western Ghats. It is located between 130 55’ to 150 32’ N latitude and 740 05’ to 750 05’ E longitude. It has a typical tropical climate with well-defined seasons and receives rainfall on an average 2500mm annually. The entire district is enriched in varied varieties of flora and fauna. The abundance of flora and fauna is mainly because of the four major rivers flowing in the district. The major rivers are i. Bedti ii. Kaliiii. Aghanashini and iv. Sharavati. Bedtiis one of the west flowing rivers that originate in the Moist Deciduous forest areas of Dharwad district. The river is the outcome of hundreds of tributary streams which merge and become limited number of tributaries. The streams have their catchments covered with various types of Landscape element types ranging from dense forest to agricultural areas, scrubs and wasteland. The major tributaries selected for the present studies are i. Ganeshpal ii. Pattana hole iii. Sahasralinga iv. Sonda v. Majjigehalla. The objective of the present work is to reveal the fish species diversity with respect to the river tributaries. Material and Methods Fish sampling is the major fieldwork at all the specified locations. Fish sampling were made two times a year i.e. Pre monsoon and post monsoon. For collecting the fish Gillnets, Cast NetsandDragnetsof different mesh size were used. The net fishing is one of the most popular fishing methods. The fishes caught alive and preserved in 4% formaldehyde for the identification. The fishes caught in the net were immediately separated from the net and the numbers of fishes caught were counted and representative sample of every specimen were preserved in plastic jars using 4% formaldehyde solution. All colors, color patterns, spots blotches number and design of the fishes were carefully noted in the field note book.For identification following morphological characters were considered: i. Total Length, Standard Length- Body depth, Head length, Head Width, Eye Diameter. ii. Position of mouth, supra terminal, terminal, sub terminal and Ventral. iii. Presence or absence of barbells, number of barbells, and location and length of barbells, iv. Height and length of Dorsal fin, length of pectoral and pelvic fins, length and height of caudal peduncle, length of longest fin ray and the number and position of spines and rays, lateral line scale count, v. Spots, blotches, bands and marks etc. Further, the some of the unidentified fishes were sent to Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata for identification and got identified. Simpsons Diversity Index was calculated to determine the fish diversity. Results and Discussion A total of 19 species belonging to 4 families of fishes were recorded during the study period 2013-2014. Cyprinidae, Balitridae, Aplochaeilidiae and Ambassidae were the most abundant families. These are presented in table-1. The tributaries of river Bedti have different ecological characteristics, which have abundantly influenced the fish population. It has natural course of water without any dams and pollution. However in recent times Bedti River has been reported as polluted through urban sewage water flow. Moreover, the fishes have proved that they have the evolutionary flexibility to produce species to fill the spectrum of Research Journal of Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences ________________________________________ ISSN 2320 – 6535 Vol. 2(8), 5-10, August (2014) Res. J. Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sci. International Science Congress Association 6 niches presented. They can be very big or very small, inhabit open waters or stay close to the bottom and they are present at every consumer trophic level in both the grazing and decomposer chains. For example Garra species is very well adapted to torrential water flow which has a suction cup on the ventral region, just below the mouth, can adhere to rocks, thus protects itself from torrential flow of water. The predominant fish fauna in south Asia belongs to the carp familyCyprinidae2,3. The carp family alone in the river was prominent with Puntius as major genus. The Cyprinidae alone constituted 91% of the total catch of the known species, while Ambassidae 6%, Balitridae family contributed only 2% and Aplochaeilidiae 1%. These are graphically depicted in figure -2a and 2b. The river tributaries exhibited highest number of Cyprinidaefollowed Ambassidae, Balitridae and Aplochaeilidiaerevealed that, the tributaries of river Bedti accounted 1076 individuals. These are presented in table-2. The significant finding of the present observation was that the occurrence of Rasbora rasbora in all tributaries while Puntius arulius was found only in Pattanahole. It was observed that the species richness was in the order Pattanahole 354, Sonda 269, Sahasralinga 245, Ganeshpal 114 and Majjigehalla 96. It has been further argued that the increase in the number of species indicates less anthropogenic pressure on that particular tributaries4-6. Contrary to these observations, it is noted that both in Ganeshpal and Majjigehalla river tributaries of the present study exhibited less species richness. The most interesting observation of the present study was that though species Rasbora rasbora (edible fish) are more they are not very much liked by the local community because they are less tasty to eat. Diversity of fish species is determined generally by several physical factors, size, depth, quality of stream and biotic conditions such as food, vegetation and substratum7-9. Habitat destruction due to deforestation results in increased erosion and suspended matter and deposition of fine sediments resulting in habitat loss and destruction of spawning grounds and species extermination10,11. Different river systems are known to harbor some species exclusive to the system. As per the present study family richness was more in Sahasralinga as compared to other tributaries. This is presented in table 3 and depicted graphically in figure 3. Table-1 Distribution of fishes in five different tributaries of river Bedti Sl.No. Order-Cypriniformes Species T-1 T-2 T-3 T-4 T-5 Grand Total 1 Family- CyprinidaeRasbora rasbora (Hamilton-Buchanan) 17 25 235 18 30 325 2 Puntius jerdoni (Day) 00 15 08 20 00 43 3 Puntius chola 13 00 28 06 00 47 4 Puntius filamentosus(Valenciennnes) 00 00 00 04 00 04 5 Puntius amphibeus 00 00 06 00 40 46 6 Puntius narayani (Hora) 02 07 28 00 01 38 7 Puntius arulius 00 00 12 00 00 12 8 Danio aequipinnatus 00 00 25 06 04 35 9 Tor tor (Hamilton-Buchanan) 15 00 00 00 00 15 10 Garra mulya 05 48 10 12 03 78 11 Gara gotyla stenorhynchos 04 18 00 10 00 32 12 Garra garra 00 140 00 00 00 140 13 Labeo fimbratus 40 00 00 00 00 40 14 Labeo calabus 14 00 00 21 00 35 15 Labeo rohita 24 08 00 07 00 39 16 Hypselobarbus jerdoni (Day) 26 08 02 10 00 46 Total 160 269 354 114 78 975 Family- Balitoridae 17 Nemacheilus guentheri 00 00 00 00 18 18 Order- Cyprinodontiformes Family- Aplocheilidiae 18 Aplocheilus lineatus (Valenciennnes) 17 00 00 00 00 17 ORD-Perciformes Family- Ambassidae 19 Pseudoambasis ranga (Hamilton-Buchanan) 66 00 00 00 00 66 1076 T-1-Sahasralinga T-2-Sonda T-3-Pattanahole T-4-Ganeshpal T-5-Majjige halla Research Journal of Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences ________________________________________ ISSN 2320 – 6535 Vol. 2(8), 5-10, August (2014) Res. J. Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sci. International Science Congress Association 7 Table-2 Distribution of the abundance of family and their species in five tributaries studied S.No Family Total Species 1 Cyprinidae 975 2 Balitridae 18 3 Aplochaeilidiae 17 4 Ambassidae 66 Table-3 Distribution of the abundance of family and their species in five different tributaries studied S.No Family Tributaries T-1 T-2 T-3 T-4 T-5 1 Cyprinidae 160 269 354 114 78 2 Balitridae 00 00 00 00 18 3 Aplochaeilidiae 17 00 00 00 00 4 Ambassidae 66 00 00 00 00 Figure-1 Major tributaries of river Bedti Research Journal of Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences Vol. 2(8), 5-10, August (2014) International Science Congress Association Histogram showing the distribution of the abundance of family and their species in five tributaries Pie chart showing the distribution of various families of fish in five tributaries studied Histogram showing the species abundance with respect to the five different tributaries of Bedti 2004006008001000 TotalSpecies 18, 2% 17, 1% 50100150200250300350400 T-1T-2160 269 1766 Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences _____ _______________________________ Res. J. Animal, Veterinary and Fishery International Science Congress Association Figure-2a Histogram showing the distribution of the abundance of family and their species in five tributaries Figure-2b Pie chart showing the distribution of various families of fish in five tributaries studied Figure-3 Histogram showing the species abundance with respect to the five different tributaries of Bedti TotalSpecies    975, 91% 18, 2% 17, 1% 66, 6% Total Species T-3T-4T-5 269 3541147818 _______________________________ ____ ISSN 2320 – 6535 Res. J. Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sci. 8 Histogram showing the distribution of the abundance of family and their species in five tributaries studied Pie chart showing the distribution of various families of fish in five tributaries studied Histogram showing the species abundance with respect to the five different tributaries of Bedti Cyprinidae Balitridae Aplochaeilidiae Ambassidae Ambassidae Aplochaeilidiae Balitridae Cyprinidae Research Journal of Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences Vol. 2(8), 5-10, August (2014) International Science Congress Association Histogram showing the Simpson diversity index with respect to the five different tributaries of Bedti As per the Simpsons Diversity Index most diverse fish community was recorded in Pattanahole and Majjigehalla accommodated least diversity. These are depicted figure 4. According earlier reports from Daniels and Sreekantha species richness or diversity depends less on the characteristics of a single ecosystem than on the interactions between ecosystems, e.g. transport of living animals across the zones in the water body12 . Fish is captured in natural lakes, reservoirs, streams, tributaries, rivers and oceans. However, few species in spite of their great commercial interest have been comprehensively less studied to establish the importance of their distribution for their successful management. It is in this context, this study enlightens the fish species diversity in tributaries of the river ecosystem. Conclusion This report indicates fish diversity in the major tributaries of river Bedti of Western Ghats region of Karnataka. a study conducted during 2013-2014 it has been revealed that fish diversity and abundance have shown variation in the tributaries based on the human interference. Overfishing and habitat degradat ion might be the significant factors affecting the fish diversity and richness. 0.000.100.200.300.400.500.600.700.80 T1 Species richness Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences _____ _______________________________ Res. J. Animal, Veterinary and Fishery International Science Congress Association Figure-4 Simpson diversity index with respect to the five different tributaries of Bedti As per the Simpsons Diversity Index most diverse fish community was recorded in Pattanahole and Majjigehalla accommodated least diversity. These are depicted graphically in Sreekantha species richness or diversity depends less on the characteristics of a single ecosystem than on the interactions between ecosystems, different gradient . Fish is captured in natural lakes, reservoirs, streams, tributaries, rivers and oceans. However, few species in spite of their great commercial interest have been importance of their It is in this context, this study enlightens the fish species diversity in tributaries of This report indicates fish diversity in the major tributaries of of Western Ghats region of Karnataka. According to it has been revealed that fish diversity and abundance have shown variation in the tributaries based on the human interference. Overfishing and ion might be the significant factors affecting the Acknowledgement We would like to acknowledge University Grants Commission New Delhi and SWRO Bangalore for funding this research work. References 1. Subhas Chandran M.D. et al. Conservation of Myristica swamps of Uttara Kannada. Final report submitted to Forest research and Training Institute, Western Ghats Forestry project 2. Ajit Kumar C.R. and Mittal D.D. fishes in wetla nd in relation to aquatic vegetation and water Chemistry, Journal, Bombay Natural Hist. Society, (1993)3. Jayaram K.C. a. Zoogeography of Indian freshwater fishes Proc. Indian. Acad. Sci., 86B(4) 4. Jayaram K.C., Indra T.J. and Sunder Singh collection of fish from the Cardamom Hills, South India Madras J. Fish., 7, 1-7 (1976) 5.Bhat Anuradha, Book Review Current Science, India, August 10, T2 T3 T4 T5 Tributeries _______________________________ ____ ISSN 2320 – 6535 Res. J. Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sci. 9 Simpson diversity index with respect to the five different tributaries of Bedti We would like to acknowledge University Grants Commission New Delhi and SWRO Bangalore for funding this research Subhas Chandran M.D. et al. , Investigation and swamps of Uttara Kannada. Final report submitted to Forest research and Training Institute, Western Ghats Forestry project , Bangalore (2001) Ajit Kumar C.R. and Mittal D.D. , Habitat preference of nd in relation to aquatic vegetation and water Journal, Bombay Natural Hist. Society, 90 Jayaram K.C. a. Zoogeography of Indian freshwater fishes , 86B(4) , 265-274 (1977) Jayaram K.C., Indra T.J. and Sunder Singh M., On a collection of fish from the Cardamom Hills, South India , Book Review -Freshwater fishes of India, August 10, 79(3), 382-383 (2000) Research Journal of Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences ________________________________________ ISSN 2320 – 6535 Vol. 2(8), 5-10, August (2014) Res. J. Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sci. International Science Congress Association 10 6.Arunachalam M., Assemblage Structure of stream fishes in Western Ghats (India), Hydrobiologia, 430, 1 -30 2000) 7.Daniels R.J.R., Biodiversity of Western Ghats: An Overview, In Wildlife and Protected areas, Conservation of rain Forests in India, ENVIS Bulletin, 4, 25–40 (2003) 8.Chandana E.P.S. et al., A note on Fish diversity in the major Lagoons of Bundala National Park- A Ramsar wetland in Sri Lanka- An insight to Wetland degradation,Research Journal of Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences,2(5), 10-13 (2014)9.Jayaram K.C., The Freshwater Fishes of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma and Shri Lanka, Hand Book Zoological survey of India Xii + 475 (1981) 10.Jayaram K.C., Freshwater fishes of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma and Shrilanka: a handbook, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta (1981)11.Jayaram K.C., Freshwater fishes of the Indian region, Narendra Publishing House, Delhi (1999)12.Sreekantha. et.al., Fish diversity in relation to landscape and Vegetation in Central western Ghats, India Current Science, 92(11), 102007)