A REVIEW STUDY OF THE DIVERSITY OF FISHES IN THE WESTERN GHATS OF INDIAS. Kolwalkar and P. DebAbstract The states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu are all traversed by the Western Ghats. The Narmada-Tapi, the Northern Deccan Plateau, the Southern Deccan Plateau, the Southern Eastern Ghats, and the Western Ghats are the five main ecoregions or categories that the freshwater rivers and streams in the Western Ghats fall under. With about 140,000 species of macroscopic fungi, plants, and animals, this freshwater contains ecosystems with some of the highest levels of biological diversity on Earth, accounting for around 12% of all documented species in rivers, lakes, and wetlands. Currently, there are about 18,000 species of fish found in fresh water, and each year, hundreds of new species are discovered. There have been 290 species of freshwater fish studied from the Western Ghats, which are divided into 11 orders, 33 families, and 106 genera. Few of these can also survive in habitats with brackish or salt water. Cyprinidae (72 species), Balitoridae (34 species), Bagridae (19 species), are the families in this area with the highest number of species. The present review study elaborates on the diversity of fishes in the western ghats. |