ornamental fishes in rowmari floodplain wetland, darrang district,...

The Science Probe Vol. 2 No. 1 (February 2014) Page No- 11-24 ISSN: 2277 – 9566

T h e S c i e n c e P r o b e | 11

ORNAMENTAL FISHES IN ROWMARI FLOODPLAIN WETLAND,

DARRANG DISTRICT, ASSAM

Seema Jyoti1 and Amalesh Dutta

2

1Research Scholar, Department of Zoology, Gauhati University, Assam, India.

Email: [email protected],

2Professor, Department of Zoology, Gauhati University, Assam, India.

ABSTRACT

Rowmari Beel is an important freshwater riverine registered floodplain

wetland of Darrang district which is rich in ornamental fish diversity.

The present investigation was carried out during 2009-2011.Floodplain

wetlands are locally known as Beels in Assam and they constitute vitally

important fishery resource of Assam. There are 1392 floodplain wetlands

in Assam of which 423 are registered and 969 are unregistered which

are rich in icthyofaunal diversity. Darrang District has 103 numbers of

wetland of which registered beels are 28 covering 6459 ha. The present

investigation shows availability of 50 numbers of ornamental fishes

belonging to 9 orders and 20 families of which family Cyprinidae

dominates showing 11 numbers of species .Of the 50 number of

ornamental fishes, about 30 numbers are classified ornamental fishes.

CAMP (1998) and IUCN (2013) status of each fishes is listed out.

KEYWORDS: Rowmari beel, Ornamental fishes, Threats,

Conservation status.



INTRODUCTION

The wetlands are considered as one of the

most important ecosystems of the world.

Not only are they unique ecosystems but

storehouses of great biodiversity. The

wetlands are sometimes described as “the

kidneys of the landscape” for the functions

they perform in hydrologic and chemical

cycles and as the downstream receivers of

wastes from both natural and human sources

(Mitsch and Gosselink, 1986). Floodplain

wetlands locally known as Beels constitute

vitally important fishery resource of Assam.

There are 1392 floodplain wetlands in

Assam of which 423 are registered and 969

are unregistered(Dey 1981) which, if

judiciously managed, can furnish

unimaginably high & rich benefits to the

people of the state. Darrang district has 103

numbers of wetland of which registered

beels are 28 covering 6459 ha. Rowmari

Beel is an important freshwater riverine

registered floodplain wetland of Darrang

district .Auto-stoking of the beel occurs by

the influx of the flood water when many

riverine species including ornamental fishes

enters in the beel. But it was seen that weeds

growing in the connecting canal and

siltation, hinders the flow of the water into

the beel. This beel not only provides a

sizeable amount of fish biomass for the

region, but also maintains a potential

ornamental fish diversity which remains

unattended. The present communication is

concerned with identification and diversity

of the Ornamental fish species of the

Rowmari beel and to understand the

prospects of ornamental fishery. Ornamental

fishes, both conventionally and technically,

are small in sizes and gorgeous with

attractive colour and majestic movement

purported in the aquaria. However, small

non-colourful fishes also receive ornamental

status and remain in great demand from the

aquarists if they do exhibit peculiar body

morphology, strange locomotive deportment

and are rare in occurrences and also the

juvenile stages of large growing fishes

which have high demand from the aquarists

(Dey et al .,2002).

Study area:

The study was carried out in Rowmari beel

of Darrang district of Assam. The Darrang

district is situated in the central part of

Assam in the northern side of the river

Brahmaputra .The district is gifted with vast

wetlands resources comprising of beels,

ponds, tanks, oxbow lakes, dead river

courses, low lying swamps, marshes and

tributaries. Among the 103 number of

wetland of the district .Rowmari Beel is one

of the important wetland located between

26o 19

´0.7

´´N - 26

o 19

´58

´´N latitude to 91

o

55´ 50´´ E - 91o 56´ 46´´ E longitude at 44

MSL. It is located towards southwest

direction at about 35 kms from district

headquarter Mangaldai. This beel is

important as it shows characteristics of lotic

as well as lentic habitat. The western

margins of the beel are under paddy

cultivation. Gowaltari and Ghatarag no.1

village lies in the northern side of the beel.

The main river Brahmaputra is at a distance

of 3.93 kms south east. The beel collects its

drainage through a small canal

‘Sirpalimukh’ of 2.69 kms length which

happens to be sole outlet. During winter

season the Rowmari beel shrinks

considerably and is reduced to two pockets,

‘Arimari’ and ‘Tuldhung’. Water enters

through ‘Sirpalimukh’ to ‘Tuldhung’ then to

Rowmari.



Fig 1: Location map of Rowmari Beel______________

________________________________

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The Rowmari Beel is being monitored since

Jan 2009 to March 2011. The map of the

area was obtained from the Director of land

Records, Government of Assam. Landscape

elements in Rowmari beel was identified

through exclusive field visits, ground

trotting using GPS. Fishes were collected

from different sites with the help of

fishermen using different types of nets

namely, gill nets, cast nets, dip nets, drag

nets and other locally used fishing gears.

Fishes caught using indigenous methods like



katal fishing were also taken into account.

Fishes collected are preserved in 9-10 %

formaldehyde solution (Jayaram, 1999) and

identified on the works of Talwar and

Jhingran (1991), Nath and Dey (2000) and

www.fishbase .com. Fishes are also

distinguished as classified or non-classified

(Dey et al., 2002).Conservation status is

given as per IUCN (2013.2) and CAMP

(1998).Other relevant data were collected by

direct enquiries of fishers as well as fish

traders.

Fig 2: Landuse map of Rowmari beel.

(Source: Satellite imageries of March 2010 IRS ID LISS III)

______________________________________________________________________________

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The main Rowmari beel is according to

Govt. records is of 50 ha but now it has

shrinked to about 41.38 ha (excluding

‘Tuldhung’ and ‘Arimari’) .The length of

Rowmari beel is 2.38 kms and breadth at

centre is 1.81 m. The average depth of the

beel during dry months is 8ft whereas in wet

month it ranges from 14.5-18ft .It is seen



that Rowmari beel is mostly surrounded by

cropland covering about 150284 ha, the

settlement covers 2850 ha and water cover

around the beel is of about 3150 ha. (Fig:

2)In the winter season, the chars and

chaparis surrounding the Rowmari beel form

good grazing grounds where Rabi crops

such as mustard, pulses, potatoes, vegetables

are grown. The majority of the population in

the area is dependent on agriculture and at

least 40% of the population is dependent on

fishing. The fishermen does fishing in the

beel under the prevalence of supervisor

allotted by a Mahaldar and gets paid

according to fish catch per day. In Ghatarag

no.1 village, there is a fishing community

known as ‘malo’ whose main occupation is

fishing and so most of the fishermen comes

from this village. They are not literate and

lack knowledge about ornamental fishes.

Since the beel is perennial and has

potentiality too, ornamental fishery could be

developed as an alternate source of income

and the fishermen could be trained with little

effort.

The present investigation shows availability

of 50 numbers of ornamental fishes

belonging to 9 orders and 20 families of

which family Cyprinidae dominates showing

11 numbers of species (Table1). Sen (2003)

has reported presence of 266 species

belonging to 10 orders and 38 families in

North-East India including Assam, of which

196 have ornamental value (Dey et al.,

2002). About 62 ornamental fish species

belonging to 41 genera, 18 families and 7

orders were recorded in floodplain wetlands

of lower Brahmaputra basin (Kalita et

al.,2013).Chakravartty et al.,(2012) in their

study in Kapla beel in Barpeta district of

Assam have found 67 number of classified

ornamental fish species. Bhattacharya et al.,

(2000) have recorded 217 fish species from

Assam of which 50 species have ornamental

value. In the present study Order

Cypriniformes was found to be dominant

representing 20 species with 40%

contribution to the total ornamental fish

species, which is followed by Perciformes

with 24 number, Siluriformes with 9

species,Mastacembeliformes with

3,Osteoglossiformes with 2 and

Clupiformes,Beloniformes,Cyprinidontiform

es,Tetradodontiformes each with 1 number

of ornamental fish species. Out of 20

families found, Cyprinidae represented the

highest with 11 genera. Of the 50 species,30

number of classified ornamental fishes have

been identified(Table:2) The availability of

50 ornamental fish species is good enough

to start up captive breeding of demandable

fishes thus commercializing them and also

conserving the depleting stock.

Conservation status of the ornamental fish

from the beel and percent occurrence of fish

under CAMP and IUCN is given in Table

3.Out of 50 species reported in the present

investigation4% are endangered,18%

vulnerable,40% at lower risk near threatened

,10% at low risk least concern , 26% not

evaluated as per CAMP. However, as per

IUCN (2013)10% of the total ornamental

fishes are near threatened, 86%at low risk,

2% not evaluated and 40% remain data

deficient.

The present investigation ascertains that

only highly demandable ornamental fish

species could be selected for mass

propagation. The highest demandable

species among them are B.dario, T.lalius,

T.chuna, X.cancila, N.nandus, C.orientalis,

C.striatus, T.cutcutia, M. aral, M. pancalus,

A. panchax, N.atherinoides, G.gagata, P.

sophore, L.guntea, B.badis which has good

market value (Dey et el., 2002). The

fishermen could be hence trained for capture

and culture of ornamental fishes near the

beel which in future could turn out as

potential business. But there are many

factors affecting the beel like excessive



fishing, grazing, uneconomic use of fishing

gears and other activities. The natural stock

is losing ground due to paddy and jute

cultivation along the catchment area of the

beel. Thus the study of Rowmari beel

provides crucial information about the status

of the ornamental biodiversity in the beel

and thus gets the emphasis for conservation

and awareness.

Table 1: List of Ornamental fishes found in Rowmari beel during 2009-2011 with their

taxonomic status and conservation status as per 1UCN (2013.2) and CAMP1998)

Order Family Name of Fish

Species

Common

name

Vernacu

lar

Name

IUCN

Status

CAMP

status

Osteoglossif

ormes

Notopteridae Chitala chitala

(Hamilton,1822)

Humped

feather back

Chital NT EN

Notopteridae Notopterus

notopterus

(Pallas,1769)

Grey feather

back

Kandhul

ee

LC LRnt

Clupeiforme

s

Clupeidae Gudusia chapra

(Hamilton,1822)

Indian river

shad

Korati LC LRlc

Cypriniform

es

Cyprinidae Amblypharyngodon

mola

(Hamilton,1822)

Mola Carplet Moa LC LRlc

Cyprinidae *Cabdio morar

(Hamilton ,1822)

Morari Boriala LC LRnt

Cyprinidae Chela cachius

(Hamilton,1822)

Silver

hatchet chela

Chela LC NE

Cyprinidae Cirrhinus mrigala

(Hamilton,1822)

Mrigal Mirika LC LRnt

Cyprinidae Cirrhinus reba

(Hamilton,1822)

Reba carp Lasim LC VU




Species

Common

name

Vernac

ular

Name

IUCN

Status

CAMP

status

Order

Cyprinidae Esomus danricus

(Hamilton,1822)

Flying barb Darikan

a

LC LRlc

Cyprinidae Salmophasia

bacaila

(Hamilton,1822)

Lazer

Razorbelly

minnow

Cheleko

na

LC LRlc

Cyprinidae Salmophasia phulo

(Hamilton,1822)

Finescale

razorbelly

minnow

Cheleko

na

LC NE

Cyprinidae Catla catla

(Hamilton,1822)

Catla Bhakua NE VU

Cyprinidae Labeo bata

(Hamilton,1822)

Bata labeo Bhango

n

LC LRnt

Cyprinidae Labeo calbasu

(Hamilton,1822)

Black rohu/

Orangefin

labeo

Mahler,

Mali

LC LRnt

Cyprinidae Labeo gonius

(Hamilton,1822)

Kuria labeo Kurhi LC LRnt

Cyprinidae Puntius chola

(Hamilton,1822)

Swamp barb Puthi LC VU

Cyprinidae *Pethia

conchonius(Hamilt

on,1822)

Rosy barb Chokori

puthi

LC VU

Cyprinidae Puntius sophore

(Hamilton,1822)

Spotfin

swamp barb

Sendori

puthi

LC LRnt

Cyprinidae *Pethia ticto

(Hamilton,1822)

Two spot

barb

Chokori

puthi

LC LRnt

Cyprinidae Rasbora

daniconius

(Hamilton,1822)

Slender

rasbora

Darikan

a

LC LRnt



Family Name of Fish

Species

Common

name

Vernac

ular

Name

IUCN

Status

CAMP

status

Balitoridae Acanthocobitis

botia

(Hamilton,1822)

Stripped

loach

Bali

botia

LC LRnt

Cobitidae Botia dario

(Hamilton,1822)

Necktie

loach

Bagh

botia

LC NE

Lepidocephalichthy

s guntea

(Hamilton,1822)

Guntea loach Bakhar

botia

LC NE

Siluriformes

Bagridae Mystus cavasius

(Hamilton,1822)

Gangetic

mystus

Barsinga

rah

LC LRnt

Bagridae Mystus tengara

(Hamilton, 1822)

Tengara

mystus

Koli

tengara

LC NE

Bagridae Mystus vittatus

(Bloch, 1794)

Striped dwarf

catfish

Tengra LC VU

Bagridae Sperata seenghala

(Sykes, 1839)

Giant river-

catfish

Ari LC NE

Siluridae Wallago attu

(Bloch &

Schneider, 1801)

Wallago Borali NT LRnt

Schilbeidae Ailia coila

(Hamilton, 1822)

Gangetic

ailia

Bapati NT VU

Schilbeidae *Neotropius

atherinoides

(Bloch, 1794)

Indian potasi Bardia LC EN

Sisoridae Gagata cenia

(Hamilton, 1822)

Indian gagata Ngarang

,

Keyakat

ta

LC NE




Species

Common

name

Vernac

ular

Name

IUCN

Status

CAMP

status

Heteropneust

idae

Heteropneustes

fossilis (Bloch,

1794)

Stinging

catfish

Singhi LC VU

Beloniforme

s

Belonidae Xenentodon

cancila (Hamilton,

1822)

Freshwater

garfish

Kakila LC LRnt

Cyprinodont

iformes

Aplocheilida

e

Aplocheilus

panchax (Hamilton,

1822)

Blue panchax Kanpon

a

LC DD

Mastacembe

liformes

Mastacembel

idae

Macrognathus aral

(Bloch &

Schneider, 1801)

One-stripe

spinyeel

Tora LC LRnt

Mastacembel

idae

Macrognathus

pancalus Hamilton,

1822

Striped spiny

eel

Turi LC LRnt

Mastacembel

idae

Mastacembelus

armatus (Lacepède,

1800)

Spiny eel Bami LC LRnt

Perciformes

Ambassidae Chanda nama

Hamilton, 1822

Elongate

glass-

perchlet

Sonda LC NE

Ambassidae Parambassis lala

(Hamilton, 1822)

Highfin

glassy

perchlet

Chanda NT NE

Ambassidae Parambassis ranga

(Hamilton, 1822)

Indian glassy

fish

Senduri

chanda

LC NE

Nandidae Badis badis

(Hamilton, 1822)

Badis Randoln

ee

LC NE

Nandidae Nandus nandus

(Hamilton, 1822)

Gangetic

leaffish

Gedgedi LC LRnt




Species

Common

name

Vernac

ular

Name

IUCN

Status

CAMP

status

Gobiidae Glossogobius

giuris (Hamilton,

1822)

Tank goby Pani

mutura

LC LRnt

Anabantidae Anabas testudineus

(Bloch, 1792)

Climbing

perch

Kawoi DD VU

Osphronemid

ae

Trichogaster

lalius(Hamilton,

1822)

Dwarf

gourami

Lolkholi

sha

LC NE

Osphronemid

ae

*Trichogaster

chuna(Hamilton,18

22)

Honey

gourami

Bhasayl

ee

LC NE

Channidae Channa punctata

(Bloch, 1793)

Spotted

snake head

Goroi LC LRnt

Channidae Channa striata

(Bloch, 1793)

Striped

snakehead

Sol LC LRlc

Channidae Channa orientalis

(Bloch &

Schneider, 1801)

Asiatic snake

head

Chengal

i

NE VU

Tetraodontif

ormes

Tetraodontid

ae

Tetraodon cutcutia

(Hamilton, 1822)

Ocellated

pufferfish

Gangato

pe

LC LRnt

CAMP Abbreviation: EN-Endangered; VU-Vulnerable; LRnt-Lower risk near threatened; LRlc-

Lower risk least concern

IUCN Abbreviation: NT-Near Threatened; LC-Least concern; DD-Data deficient; NE-Not

evaluated



Table 2: List of Classified ornamental fishes found in Rowmari beel during 2009-2011.

Order Name of Fish Species

Cypriniformes Amblypharyngodon mola

Cabdio morar

Chela cachius

Esomus danricus

Salmophasia phulo

Puntius chola

Pethia conchonius

Puntius sophore

Pethia ticto

Rasbora daniconius

Acanthocobitis botia

Botia dario

Lepidocephalichthys guntea

Siluriformes

Mystus tengara

Mystus vittatus

Order

Name of Fish Species

Siluriformes

Neotropius atherinoides

Gagata cenia

Cyprinodontiformes Aplocheilus panchax

Mastacembeliformes Macrognathus aral

Macrognathus pancalus

Mastacembelus armatus

Perciformes

Chanda nama

Parambassis lala

Parambassis ranga

Badis badis

Nandus nandus

Trichogaster lalius

Trichogaster chuna

Tetraodontiformes

Channa orientalis

Tetraodon cutcutia



Table 3: Percentage occurrence of ornamental fishes of Rowmari Beel under conservation status

CAMP (1998) and IUCN(2013.2).

0

10

20

30

40

50

Nu

mb

er

of

spe

cie

s

Threat category

Fig 4:Conservation status of Ornamental fishes

CAMP(1998)

IUCN(2013)

Rowmari Beel: 2009-2011 EN VU NT LRnt LRlc LC DD NE

CAMP(1998) No. of Fish

species

2 9 …. 20 5 .. 1 13

%

contribution

4% 18% .. 40% 10% .. 2% 26%

IUCN(2013) No. of Fish

species

.. 0 4 … … 43 2 1

%

contribution

… .. 10% …. … 86% 40% 2%

Fig 3



Pic

ture

s O

f O

rnam

enta

al

Fis

hes

Avail

ab

le A

t R

ow

mari

Bee

l

Picture 1: Ornamental fishes at landing site

collected as miscellaneous group Picture 2: Pethia conchonius

Picture 3: Puntius ticto Picture 4: Trichogaster lalius

A panoramic view of Rowmari Beel.



REFERENCES

CAMP (1998).Conservation Assessment and

Management plan workshops, Zoo

Outreach Organization, NBFGR,

Lucknow, India.156

Chakravarty, P. and Sharma, S. (2013).A

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Nalbari district of Assam with

special reference to the classified

ornamental fishes and their

prospects in the Kapla beel

ofBarpeta district. The Science

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Kamrup district of Assam, their

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in Zoology, Academic Staff

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(2002). Pre-Investment Feasibility

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Mitsch,W.J. and Gosselink, J. G. (1986). Wetlands. New York.Van Nostrand

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(Arunachal Pradesh) .New Delhi.

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http://www.iucnredlist.org/

http://www.pelagicresearchlibrary.com/

ornamental fishes in rowmari floodplain wetland, darrang district,...

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