The Fresh water fish resource of Maharashtra constitutes 6 orders 25 families and 160 species. There are many species like Oriochromis, Grass carp, common carp, silver carp, etc. that have been introduced in the inland water of Maharashtra. The entire region comes under 4 basins viz. Narmada, Tapti, Godavari and Krishna. The following list is arranged taxonomically; the distribution given by many sources given in the reference section.
Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest vertebrate animal family in general with about 3,000 species, of which only 1,270 remain extant, divided into about 370 genera. Cyprinids range from about 12 mm in size to the 3-m giant barb. By genus and species count, the family makes up more than two-thirds of the ostariophysian order Cypriniformes. The family name is derived from the Greek word kyprînos.
The Indus is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The 3,180 km (1,980 mi) river rises in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan regions of Kashmir, bends sharply to the left after the Nanga Parbat massif, and flows south-by-southwest through Pakistan, before it empties into the Arabian Sea near the port city of Karachi.
The Thamirabarani or Tamraparni or Porunai is a perennial river that originates from the Agastyarkoodam peak of Pothigai hills of the Western Ghats, above Papanasam in the Ambasamudram taluk. It flows through Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts of the Tamil Nadu state of southern India into the Gulf of Mannar. It was called the Tamraparni River in the pre-classical period, a name it lent to the island of Sri Lanka. The old Tamil name of the river is Porunai. From the source to sea, the river is about 128 kilometres (80 mi) long and is the only perennial river in Tamil Nadu. This river flows towards north direction initially. However, it changes to east direction later.
The Adan River is a river in Washim District, Maharashtra, India and a principal tributary of the Painganga River.
The state of Maharashtra in India has several major river systems including those of the Narmada, Tapti, Godavari and Krishna rivers. The ecology of these rivers and associated wetlands is covered in this article.
Kanjli Wetland is a man-made Wetland that subsumes the Kanjli Lake, and is located in the Kapurthala district of Punjab state in India. It was created in 1870 by constructing the headworks across the perennial Bien River, a tributary of the Beas River to provide irrigation facilities to the hinterland. The rich biodiversity of the wetland comprising aquatic, mesophytic and terrestrial flora and fauna including some important species of plants and animals was recognized internationally by the Ramsar Convention in 2002 by designating the Kanjli Lake in the List of Wetlands of International Importance. In this context, it is reported that the Punjab State which has 14 wetlands covering an area of 225.76 km2 has the unique position of three of its wetlands viz., the Kanjli Wetland covering an area of 490 ha of which the Kanjli Lake water spread is 184 ha), the Harike Wetland and the Ropar Wetland chosen by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoE&F), Government of India for their conservation and management are now also included in the Ramsar list covering a total area of 5650 ha; Kanjli is upstream of Harike wetland located in the Beas river basin while the Ropar wetland is in the Roopnagar district.
Ropar Wetland, also named Ropar Lake, is a man-made freshwater riverine and lacustrine wetland. The area has at least 9 mammal, 154 bird, 35 fish, 9 arthropod, 11 rotifer, 9 crustacean and 10 protozoan species, making it biologically diverse. This important ecological zone is located in the Shivalik foothills of the Lower Himalayas and was created in 1952 on the Sutlej River, in the Punjab state of India, by building a head regulator to store and divert water for beneficial uses of irrigation, drinking and industrial water supply. The endangered turtle Chitra indica and the threatened snake Python molurus, as per IUCN Red List, are reported to be resident in the wetland. Considering the wetland's diverse and rich biodiversity, Ramsar Convention has included Ropar Wetland as one of the Ramsar sites among the 42 sites listed under India, for "the conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life through the ecological and hydrological functions they perform."
Dr. Hiralal Chaudhuri was an Indian Bengali fisheries scientist. He was the father of induced breeding of the carp. The Blue revolution in India was developed on the basis of seed production technology through Hypophysation by him. He later led the way in intensive mixed farming to increase fish production in ponds.
References
Sakhare, V.B. 2006. Ecology of Lakes and Reservoirs, Daya Publishing House, Delhi
Sakhare, V.B. 2007. Reservoir Fisheries and Limnology, Narendra Publishing House, Delhi
Sakhare, V.B. 2007. Applied Fisheries,Daya Publishing House, Delhi
Heda N. (2007): Some Studies on Ecology and Diversity of Fresh Water Fishes in the Two Rivers of Vidarbha Region of Maharashtra (India). A Thesis submitted to Sant Gadgebaba Amravati University, Maharashtra (India).
Talwar P.K. and A.G. Jhingran. 1991. Inland fishes of India and adjacent countries (Vol. I & II). Oxford & IBH Pub. New Delhi. Pp 1097.
Jayaram K. C. 1981. The Freshwater Fishes of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma and Sri Lanka - A Handbook. The Director, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. Pp xxii + 475.
Jayaram K. C. 2002. Fundamentals of Fish taxonomy. Narendra publishing house, New Delhi. Pp 174.
Jayaram K.C. 1999. The fresh water fishes of the Indian region. Narendra Publishing House, New Delhi. Pp 551.
Day F. 1878. The fishes of India: being a natural history of the fishes known to inhabit the seas and fresh waters of India, Burma and Ceylon. Text and Atlas in 4 Parts. London, pp xx + 778+195.
Daniels R. 2002. Fresh water fishes of Peninsular India. University press. Pp 282.
Datta M.J.S. and M.P. Shrivastva. 1988. Natural history of fishes and systematics of Fresh water Fishes of India. Narendra Publishing house, Delhi. Pp 403.
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