- (2012) Volume 2, Issue 5
1Department of Life Sciences, Singhania University India787055
2Dept. of Zoology, Lakhimpur Girls’ College, North Lakhimpur, Assam, India 787031
3Dept. of Botany, Lakhimpur Girls’ College, North Lakhimpur, Assam, India 787031
A total of 58 potential aquarium fishes have been reported under 42 different genera and 21 families in the study area. Ornamental fishes in the sanctuary have potentialities to develop low cost enterprise with these bio-resources that can provide a sustainable development through self-employment to a considerable numbers of families as capture based export is an unsustainable technique and the key reason of ornamental fish depletion. Captive breeding of ornamental fish is the best measures for conservation of threatened species besides being creating substantial job opportunities for the local communities through development of low cost enterprise. Implication for conservation of habitat and fishes are also conferred
Ornamental ichthyofauna, IBA site, conservation.
The knowledge of keeping live fishes inside a glass aquaria perhaps originated after 300 B.C. when blowing of glass was originated [1]. These aquaria have been providing entertainment to a great extent when they are kept in a public place or inside the houses of the persons concerned. India is represented by 2200 fin fishes while more than 24618 species reported worldwide [2]. Due to unique topographical and hydro-biological conditions of North-East India the region becomes paradise for quite varieties of valuable fish species. The area is considered as live gene banks or storehouse of fish germplasm resources. About 285 fish species belonging to 114 genera under 38 families have been reported from this North Eastern region of India, which is approximately 33.13% of total Indian fresh water fishes [3]. Here, Assam has the largest number of species 217 followed by Arunachal Pradesh 167, Meghalaya 165, Tripura 134, Manipur 121, Nagaland 68 and Mizoram 48. The North-East shares its fish fauna predominantly with that of Indo-Gangetic fauna and with the Burmese and South-China fish fauna [4]. In Assam, alone 115 species of fishes are belonging to ornamental category of which 9.56% are endangered (EN), 21.73% are vulnerable (VU), 26.08% are lower risk near threatened (LRnt), 6.95% are lower risk least concern (LRlc), 1.73% is data deficient (DD) and 33.9% are not evaluated (NE) respectively. In India about 85% of fresh water ornamental fish trade from North Eastern states rest from Southern states and exotic varieties [5].
Till now no proper scientific investigation has been made on ichthyofaunal status, more specifically ornamental fishes of Bordoibam Bilmukh bird sanctuary, an Important Bird Area (IBA) site of NE India. The present paper aims to figure out the status of potential ornamental ichthyofauna of the IBA-site for long-term conservation and sustainable use of native species.
Description of the study area
a) Location and area: Assam government declared Bordoibam Bilmukh riparian wetland as a Bird Sanctuary in the year 1996 vide Govt. notification no. Pre. FRW-15/96/3-A on 3rd of July. This is also an IBA-site of North Eastern India, code-AS07. The area is located about 50 km away from North Lakhimpur, the district headquarter of Lakhimpur district of Assam and nearly 455 km from the state capital Dispur, Guwahati. Geographical location is in between 270.20N// (Latitude) and 940.20//E (Longitude). This riverine origin wetland situated in the northern boundary of the mighty river Brahmaputra. The wetland linked with river courses, particularly the river Champara during peak monsoon months. This river is a tributary of the river Brahmaputra and is flowing in the north-eastern boundary of the IBA-site. The IBA-site covers an area of 1124.78 hectares i.e. 11.25km2.
b) Ornamental fish diversity: The survey was conducted during Aug’09 to July’10 to figure out the status of ornamental ichthyofauna of the IBAsite. Field works have done in a monthly basis round the year. The fish specimens were collected from the fishermen’s catches and the fish markets of the nearby area and preserved in 4% formalin solution. Identification of fishes was done with the standard literature of [6 and 7]. Status of potential aquatics was measured with the help of [8].
List of ornamental fishes recorded in Bordoibam Bilmukh Bird Sanctuary along with their respective families, scientific names, local names, frequency of occurrence, feeding habit, prominent ornamental features and status were summarized in the Table: 1. A total of 58 potential aquarium fish species belongs to 21, 33 families and genera respectively were recorded while family wise distribution pattern is depicted in the Figure: 1. Out of 58 ornamental fish species 11(18.96%) species were very common, 19 (32.75%) species were occasional, 24 (41.37%) species were common and 4 (6.89%) species were rare in the wetland. Seven various types of feeding habit namely (1) Surface column feeder (12 species i.e. 20.68%), (2) Surface feeder (4 species i.e. 6.89%) (3) Bottom feeder (13 species i.e.22.41%), (4) Bottom column feeder (20 species i.e. 34.48%), (5) Surface column bottom feeder (2 species i.e. 3.44%) (6) Bottom feeder surface visitor (2 species i.e. 3.44%) and (7) Column feeder (5 species i.e.8.62%).
Table 1: List of ornamental fishes recorded in Bordoibam Bilmukh bird sanctuary.
Figure 1: Family wise distribution of ornamental fishes in the IBA-SITE
Species category in relation to CAMP, 1998 are depicted in the Figure: 2 .The species can be considered into five categories as (1) Lower risk near threatened (LRnt) with 31.03%, Lower risk least concern (LRlc) with 13.79%, Vulnerable (VU) with 17.24%, Not evaluated (NE) with 32.75% and Endangered (EN) with 5.17%. Categorization of species signifying the healthy status of the habitat.
Figure 2: Ornamental fishes of different categories in the IBA-SITE
Study reveals that the area has high opportunity for used as natural stock of native potential aquarium fish for production of ornamental fishes through artificial breeding. Artificial breeding has manifold advantages like trim down the environmental pressure by lowering down wild collection, conservation can be achieved, helps in employment generation through development of low cost enterprise like aquarium fish breeding and selling centre. Ninety five per cent of our ornamental fish export is based on wild collection [9]. In recent time ornamental fish marketing has been growing in faster way in different parts of the globe and many fish farmers as well as entrepreneurs involved in the trade. Improvement of air transport facility along with some other scientific inventions transformed this ornamental fish industry into a lucrative bio-trade industry in many countries including the India. The recent value of world trade for ornamental fish has been estimated to be about 4.5 billion US dollar and has an annual growth rate approximately 8%. The demand of ornamental fish is gradually increasing day by day.
Implication for conservation
Habitat conservation of the sanctuary, an ore of native fish species (Plate: 1-4) is to be imperative because, at present the wetland is in such a state that native fishes alone cannot withstand the fishing pressure due to collapse in native fish stock [9]. Integrity of aquatic communities and ecosystems should be conserved by appropriate management techniques. In particular, efforts should be made to minimize the harmful effects of over-fishing in these water bodies. In this regard, the carrying capacity of aquatic environments should be well studied in order to eliminate the adverse effect on native fish fauna. The problem needs to be addressed with a view to find a long term solution in terms of sustainable income generation and conservation of the ecosystem symbiotically. Mass culture of aquarium fish has manifold advantages as it reduces pressure on the natural habitats, maintained ecological balance of our local environment by restoration of species; restoration of the diversity and make possible of the conservation of rare, endangered and endemic species [10]. Ornamental fish culture in captive condition and their trade still have not been well planned in the North-eastern region of India, a mega-biodiversity centre and a hotspot [11].Therefore, the government organizations and some NGOs should play imperative role to the same. Large scale ornamental fish production programmed with the help of mass culture is hoped to be the best measures for conservation of habitat and threatened species besides being creating substantial job opportunities for the locals.
Plate 1: Fish Productivity of Bordoibam Bilmukh Bird Sanctuary
Plate 2-4: Fishes of the Bordoibam Bilmukh Bird Sanctuary
