BIOSCIENCES BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH ASIA, June 2019. Vol. 16(2), p.

483-489

Study on Distribution and Abundance of Indigenous

Ornamental Fishes from Water Bodies of Jammu (J&K)

Mohd Arif*, Roopma Gandotra, Neha Choudhary,

Dheeraj Sharma, Aaqib Lone and Aayushi Dogra

Fisheries Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Jammu, Jammu - 180006, India.

http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bbra/2763

(Received: 20 March 2019; accepted: 22 May 2019)

Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir is a region of high biological diversity and
endemicity of fish fauna, but very little is known about the distribution of freshwater indigenous
ornamental fish. The study was carried out across the tributaries of three rivers viz., Chenab,
Tawi and Basantar to study the diversity of ornamental fish. Regular collection trips were
carried out at 13 different stations for a period of one year from December 2017 to December
2018 and a total of 30 species were reported belonging to 8 families and 18 genera. In all the
study stations Cyprinidae family was found to be most prevalent (85%) and Osphronemidae
(1%) was the least. The present work is a preliminary study on the distribution and abundance
of ornamental fishes from freshwater bodies of Jammu.

Keywords: Indigenous, Ornamental, Cyprinidae, Osphronemidae.

Ornamental fishes conventionally zinc and other micronutrients) which are vital
include the attractive colourful fishes of diverse for healthy growth and development of lactating
characteristics which are kept in home aquariums mother.
and have asthetic value hence popularly known Attempt to assess the Indian freshwater
as ‘Aquarium fishes’. These living jewels need fishes for conservation was made by NBFGR which
not always have bright colours as sometimes their enlisted 2610 species of fin fishes from different
curious characteristics such as morphology, colour aquatic ecosystems of the country, inhabiting
combinations, innumerable fin structures, mode of marine, brackish and freshwaters of which 291
taking food and preying habit may also add to their species of fishes are exotic. India also possesses
attractiveness and which also made them objects a rich diversity of colorful ornamental fishes with
of considerable aesthetic value. Not only this, over 100 varieties of indigenous species. However,
ornamental fishes categorized as small indigenous 85% of the different ornamental fishes exported out
species (SIS), play an important part in the diet as of the country are wild collections made from the
a source of vitamin A and minerals (calcium, iron, various rivers and streams while remaining 15%

*Corresponding author E-mail: [email protected]

This is an Open Access article licensed under a Creative Commons license: Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY).
Published by Oriental Scientific Publishing Company © 2018
484 Arif et al., Biosci., Biotech. Res. Asia, Vol. 16(2), 483-489 (2019)

are exotic fishes (Kurup et al., 2003 and Swain et. E longitude.
al, 2008). Station III (Sidhra) 32°77'N latitude and 74°57'
Fish fauna of various lotic water bodies E longitude.
of Jammu region has earlier been described by Das Station IV (Gujjar Nagar) 32°43' N latitude and
and Nath (1965, 1966 and 1971 ), Malhotra et al. 74°52' E longitude.
(1975), Malhotra and Jyoti (1971), Malhotra and Station V (Mandal) 32° 67' latitude and 74°74'
Dutta (1976), Tilak (1971), Sharma and Sharma longitude.
(1973 and 1974), Joshi et al. (1978), Jyoti and Station VI (Phallian) 32°70' N latitude and 74°79'E
Gupta (1978), Dutta (2003 and 2012), Dutta et longitude.
al. (2001a, 2002a,b, 2003 and 2006) Dutta and Station VII (Gho-Manhasan) 30° 67' N latitude and
Malhotra (1984), Dutta and Kour (1999, 2005 and 74° 79'E longitude.
2006), Dutta and Fayaz (2003), Sharma and Dutta Station VIII (Gajansu) 32° 90' N latitude and 74°
(2012) Khajuria and Langer 2016, Sharma et al. 82' E longitude.
(2016) and Mohan et al. (2013). However, there is Station IX (Chakrali) 30° 68' N latitude and 74°
no detailed information about the ornamental fish 80' longitude.
fauna of various water bodies of Jammu. Hence Station X (Sehi) 32° 30'N latitude and 74° 43' E
an attempt was made to study the freshwater longitude.
ornamental fish diversity of Jammu adding to the Station XI (Bishnah) 32° 59'N latitude and 74°
knowledge of the farmers undertaking fish stocking 84'E longitude.
programmes in various water bodies of Jammu. Station XII (Arnia) 32° 50'N latitude and 74°77'E
longitude.
Material and methods Station XIII (Chadwal) 32° 77'N latitude and 74°
89' E longitude.
Study area Identification of the fishes
Random and regular field surveys were Fishes were collected from lotic water
carried out at thirteen lotic water bodies located in bodies of Jammu region using different types of
the Jammu Division of Jammu and Kashmir, India nets namely gill net, cast net and drag net. The
for a period of one year from December 2017 to ornamental fishes were categorized based on
December 2018. the characteristics like colorations, body shapes,
viz., Station 1 (Jhajjar Kotli) 32°53' N latitude and banding patterns, fin structure, transparency and
74°57' E longitude. preying habits. The fish fauna were identified using
Station II (Nagrota) 32°47' N latitude and 74°55' the reference works of Talwar & Jhingran (1991),

Map showing various study station

 Arif et al., Biosci., Biotech. Res. Asia, Vol. 16(2), 483-489 (2019) 485

Jayaram (1999) the confirmation of the same was H = Shannon-Weaver index

done at FBRC ZSI Hyderabad. S represents a capital epsilon
Biodiversity parameters S= number of species, pi= proportion of individuals
Fish species diversity was subjected of the total sample belonging to thei species
to diversity analysis using indices like species calculated as ni/N for each I th species with ni
richness being the number in species I and N, the number
(S = number of species); Shannon – weiner of individuals in the sample.
diversity Index (1949); Simpson’s Index (Simpson Simpson Diversity index: Sn
1949); Species Dominance Index (Berger and D2= S (nj/n) (n – nj/n – I)
Parker 1970); Margalef Index and Perilous J=I
Evenness (Pielou 1966). Where, nj = number of individuals of the jth species
Shannon-weiner index in the sample
H=S/1 = 1 [S (Pi) (Log2Pi)] n= S nj = total number of individuals
Where, jSn = number of species in the sample

Graph 1. Showing the family wise ornamental fish species at different Stations, their total number along with their
percentage occurrance in lotic water bodies of Jammu region

Fig. 2. Showing the fish diversity indices of 13 different lotic water bodies of Jammu
486 Arif et al., Biosci., Biotech. Res. Asia, Vol. 16(2), 483-489 (2019)

Margalef’s Richness Index Results and Discussion

d=S-1/logN
Measurement of species richness The survey of thirteen stations of Jammu
Margalef’s index was used as a simple measure of division revealed the presence of 30 ornamental
species richness (Margalef, 1958). fish species belonging to 8 families and 18 genera.
S = total number of species In all the study stations, Cyprinidae family was
N = total number of individuals in the sample found to be dominant with highest percentage
Iog = natural logarithm occurance (85%) followed by family Bagaridae
Evenness: (11%), Channidae (10%), Mastacembelidae (10%),
For calculating the evenness of species, the Pielou’s Neamchilidae (4%), Heteropneustidae (3%),
Evenness Index (e) was used (Pielou, 1966). Badidae (1%), and Osphronemidae (1%).
e = H / Iog S Diversity indices (Table 3) showed the
H = Shannon – Wiener diversity index Shannon-Weaver (Hmax.) highest at Station-13
S = total number of species in the sample (2.689) and lowest at Station-3 (1.385). The
Simpson indices were highest at Station-13

Table 1. Showing the fish diversity at different study stations of Jammu viz., Station 1 (Jhajjar Kotli) Station II
(Nagrota) Station III (Sidhra) Station IV (Gujjar Nagar) Station V (Mandal) Station VI (Phallian) Station VII (Gho-
Manhasan) Station VIII (Gajansu) Station IX (Chakrali) Station X (Sehi) Station XI (Bishnah) Station XII (Arnia)
Station XIII (Chadwal)(‘+’ represents the presence and ‘-‘ represents the absence of fish species.)

Scientific Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Salmostoma bacaila (Ham. Buch.) - - - - - - + - - + + + -

Salmostoma panjabiensis (Ham. Buch.) - - - - - - + - - + + + -
Aspidoparia morar (Ham. Buch.) - + +++ + - - + +++ - + - - -
Barilius vagra (Ham. Buch.) + + +++ + - - +++ +++ - - - - +
B. bendelisis (Ham. Buch.) + + +++ + - - +++ +++ - - - - +
Rasbora rasbora (Ham. Buch.) - - - - - - - + - - + +
Esomus danricus (Ham. Buch.) _ _ - - - - - - - + - - -
Danio devario (Ham. Buch.) - - - - - - +++ - - + +++ + ++
Chela cahius - - ++ - - - + + - - - +
C.laubuca - - - - - + + - - - +
Tor tor (Ham. Buch.) + + - - + - - - - - - - -
T. putitora (Ham. Buch.) + + + + + - - + - - - - -
Puntius sophore (Ham. Buch.) - + - + - + - - - - - - -
P. chola (Ham. Buch.) - - - - - + - - + - - - -
P. ticto (Ham. Buch.) - + - + + + +++ - + + +++ +++ +
P. conchonius (Ham. Buch.) - + - + + - +++ - + + +++ +++ +
P.sarana (Ham. Buch.) - - - - - - +++ - - - +++ +++ +
Crossocheilus latius + + + + + - - + + - - - -
Nemacheilus botia (Ham.) - + - + + + - - + - - - -
Mystus seenghala (Sykes) - - - + + + - - + - - + +
Mystus bleekeri (Day) - - - - - - - - + - - + +
Heteropneustes fossilis - - - - - - - - + - + - +
Xenentodon cancilia (Ham. Buch.) - - - - - - - - - - - +
Mastacembelus armatus (Lac.) - - - - - + - - + - - - +
Macrognathus pancalus (Ham. Buch.) + - - + - - - - + - - - +
Channa punctatus (Bloch.) - - - + - - + - + - + - +
C. striatus (Schneider) - - - - - - + - - - - - -
C.maruilius - - - + - - - - + - + - +
Badis badis - - - - - - - - + - - - -
Trichogaster fasciatus - - - - - - - - + - + - +
 Arif et al., Biosci., Biotech. Res. Asia, Vol. 16(2), 483-489 (2019) 487

(0.9181) and lowest at the Station-8 (0.8028)

but the species dominance was high at Station
-3(0.3144) and lowest at Station 13(0.0818). The
Site 13

0.0818
0.9181

0.8175
2.689

2.842
Evenness values were recorded high at Station-10

396
18 (0.9531) and lowest at Station-4(0.601). The
Marglef”s richness index value was found highest
Site 12

0.1259
0.8741

0.9351
at Station-9 (2.871) and lowest at Station-8

1.395
2.13
309
9

(0.9779). The diversity indices of all the 13 study

Stations during present study shows variability at
all the study stations. From the above statistical
Site 11

0.2055
0.7945

0.6447
1.378
1.86
686
10

indices applied, it can be concluded that there is

variation among the diversity values from all the
indices. This can be attributed to fluctuations in the
Table 2. Showing the fish diversity indices of 13 different lotic water bodies of Jammu

Site 10

0.1569
0.8431

0.9531
1.131
1.89
201

abiotic factors like topography, pH, substratum,

7

pollution and biotic factors like feeding habits

of the fish and various anthropogenic activities.
0.09324
0.9068

0.7549
Site 9

2.609

2.871

Present conclusion are in line with other workers

373
18

who also correlate rich diversity in rivers with

better food availability, breeding sites and water
0.1972
0.8028

0.9779
Site 8

0.833

depth (Marais,1988; Welcomme,1985; Hina,2010;

1.76
462
7

Khajuria et al.,2013;Andotra,2014; Samal et al.,

2016).
0.7303
Site 7

0.168
0.832
1.98

1.38
679
10

Conclusions

The detailed survey of water bodies

0.1864
0.8136

0.8673
Site 6

1.803

1.279
109
7

of Jammu region disclosed the presence of 30

ornamental fish species which not only serve
decorative purpose but also are exploited for
0.2333
0.7667

0.8253
Site 5

1.132
1.60
83

food value. These fishes has the great potential

6

for commercial trading which inturn will help to

improve the economic status of local population
0.1655
0.8345
Site 4

0.601
2.072
2.13
530

of Jammu region. It is thus necessary on the part

14

of State government and local people to make

contribution towards conservation of the natural
0.3144
0.6856

0.6661
0.7493
Site 3

1.385

habitat of these fishes.

791
6

Acknowledgements
0.1635
0.8365

0.7339
Site 2

1.993

1.569
310
10

The authors are greatly indebted to the

Head, Department of Zoology, University of
Jammu for providing the facilities to carry out the
0.2355
0.7645

0.8276
Site 1

1.603

1.046
119
6

research work.

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Simpson 1-D
Individuals

Shannon H
Evenness e
Margalef’s
Richness
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