Gudusia chapra (Hamilton, 1822)

Banyal, Harinder Singh & Kumar, Sanjeev, 2019, Studies on fish diversity of the Mahi River, Rajasthan State, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 119 (1), pp. 1-8 : 4-6

34. Gudusia chapra (Hamilton, 1822)

Listing and documentation of biodiversity has become an essential tool to understand dynamics of different ecosystem and influences on them. Analysis of the fish diversity revealed that Mahi riverine ecosystem of Banswara and Dungarpur possesses varied fish diversity which is a testimonial that this river is quite healthy and productive. Majority of the recorded fish species except cat fishes which are strictly carnivorous, have diverse food habits like herbivorous, carnivorous omnivorous and detritus consumers which are enormously supported by this water body.

Rampant poaching of fishes by natives particularly during spawning period, deregulation of mesh size of fishing nets, removal of bed material, effluents and other household pollutants are the potential threats which can

Source: Google Earth

Figure 2. Area of study.

Mahi Bajaj Sagar Dam Mahi River at Semliya village

Mahi River at Agarpur bridge near Pratapur

Mahi Bajaj Sagar reservoir

Mahi River at Choopasag near Pratapur

Mahi River at Beneshwar Dham

affect the diversity of ichthyofauna. Presence of trash fishes such as Oreochromis mossambicus (Peters, 1852) in Mahi reservoir is also a matter of concern for Indian major carps and other commercially important fishes. Moreover, the Mahi River is also suffering from the effects of having dams on its course. This barrier is accounting for loss in the breeding and nursery grounds of important freshwater endangered fishes such as Tor khudree (Sykes, 1839) .

Hence, to conserve this vital riverine treasure, a long term management plan should be prepared and implemented. Besides, large scale awareness of all the stakeholders would be crucial to conserve the fish fauna of this river.

Summary

34 species of fishes belonging to 31 genera, 13 families and 7 orders were recorded from the Mahi River . This is the first comprehensive attempt to describe fish diversity of this river from Rajasthan state .