Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

Vol 27, Feb Suppl. Issue, 2021; Page No.(205-209)

STATUS OF FISH DIVERSITY AND THEIR HABITAT ECOLOGY IN THE UPPER GANGA BASIN, UTTARAKHAND

D.S. Malik, M.K. Sharma, Arvind Kumar Sharma and Amit Kumar Sharma

Abstract

Ganges is the largest riverine ecosystem of India and supports diverse aquatic community compared to others aquatic ecosystem. The aim of the present study was carried out to assess the fish diversity status in relation to major physico-chemical parameters on spatiotemporal scales. Fish species were collected along with physicochemical parameters from selected eight sampling zones of the upper Ganga basin from September 2017 to August 2018. Aquatic diversity status was analysed with the help of PAST (version 3.0) software. The result of present experimental study clearly indicated that upper Ganga river basin provides the natural habitat of 27 fish species as Tor putitora (8.54%), Tor tor (10.68%), Schizothorax richardsonii (11.50%) and S. plagiostomus (10.95%) are major dominant species. Water temperature, water velocity and dissolved oxygen contributed as major influential ecological factors for fish species richness and their distribution in the upper Ganga river ecosystem.