Fish Assemblage Pattern in Relation to Physico-Chemical Parameters of the Meenachil River, Southern Western Ghats, Kerala, India

Cheriyan P. Letha^1, and Oommen Manu²

¹Department of Zoology, Mar Thoma College Tiruvalla, Kerala, India

²Department of Zoology, Catholicate College, Pathanamthitta, Kerala, India

Cite this paper:
Cheriyan P. Letha and Oommen Manu. Fish Assemblage Pattern in Relation to Physico-Chemical Parameters of the Meenachil River, Southern Western Ghats, Kerala, India. Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences. 2022; 10(11):691-701. doi: 10.12691/aees-10-11-5

Abstract

Meenachil River originates from the biodiversity hotspot Western Ghats, home to varied and diverse fish fauna endemic to the region. The fish composition of the upper, middle and lower stretches of the Meenachil River was investigated from 2015 to 2019 to explore the fish assemblage patterns and the associated environmental factors. Thirty-nine species belonging to 20 families, 11 orders, and 31 genera were collected during the study. Order Cypriniformes ranked first with 16 species, followed by Siluriformes and Anabantiformes, each with five species. Three major assemblage patterns were differentiated in Meenachil River, the “mountainous species,” inhabiting the upstream, “piedmont species,” the midstream; and the “downstream species,” the lower stretches. Canonical Correspondence Analysis reflected altitude as the most significant factor influencing the assemblage pattern of fishes in the Meenachil River. Nemacheilus triangularis, Garra mullya, Barilius gatensis, Barilius bakeri and Haludaria fasciata, with a strong negative correlation to salinity, TDS, and conductivity, supported their partitioning and distribution restricted only to the high altitude areas of the river. Piedmont species positively correlated to dissolved oxygen levels were Mystus montanus, Rasbora daniconius, Devario aequipinnatus, Mastacembelus armatus and Salmostoma acinaces. Glossogobius giuris, Systomus sarana, Hyporamphus limbatus, Mystus gulio, Mystus oculatus, Etroplus suratensis, Parambassis dayi and Gerres setifer showed very strong positive correlations to salinity, TDS and conductivity were restricted to the downstream. Megalops cyprinoides is an anadromous species migrating between Vembanadu Lake and the lower stretches of the river. Etroplus maculatus, Parambassis thomassi, Aplocheilus lineatus, Dawkinsia filamentosa, and Xenentedon cancila have general distribution in the river not significantly influenced by any of the environmental parameters studied. Deviations from the existing structural pattern in fish assemblages can be used to assess the ecological status of the river and its fish fauna.

Keywords:
Riverine fish fauna mountainous species piedmont species ecological status conservation

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Figures

References:

[1]	Melles, S.J., Jones, N.E., Schmidt, B, “Review of theoretical developments in stream ecology and their influence on stream classification and conservation planning”, Freshwater Biology, 57, 415-434, November 2012.
[2]	Fausch, K.D., Lyons, J., Karr, J.R., Angermeier, P.L, “Fish communities as indicators of environmental degradation”, American Fisheries Society Symposium, 8, 123-144, January 1990.
[3]	Ross, S.T, “Resource partitioning fish assemblages: a review of field studies”, Copeia, 352-388, May 1986.
[4]	Orrego, R., Adams, S., Barra, R., Chiang, G., Gavilán, J, “Patterns of fish community composition along a river affected by agricultural and urban disturbance in south-central Chile”, Hydrobiologia, 620, 35-46, March 2009.
[5]	Gorman, O, Karr, J, “Habitat structure and stream fish communities”, Ecology, 59, 507-515, May 1978.
[6]	Stiassny, M.L, “An overview of freshwater biodiversity: with some lessons from African fishes”, Fisheries, 21, 7-13, January 1996.
[7]	Alexandre, C.V., Esteves, K.E., de Mourae Mello, Monica, A.M, “Analysis of fish communities along a rural-urban gradient in a neotropical stream (Piracicaba River Basin, Sa˜O Paulo, Brazil)” Hydrobiologia, 641, 97-114, January 2010.
[8]	Kimmel, W. G., Argent, D.G, “Stream fish community responses to a gradient of specific conductance”, Water, Air, And Soil Pollution, 206, 49-56, February 2010.
[9]	Vega, M., Pardo, R., Barrado, E., Debán, L. Assessment of seasonal and polluting effects on the quality of river water by exploratory data analysis. Water Research, 32, 3581-3592, September 1998.
[10]	Sala, O.E., Chapin, F.S., Armesto, J.J., Berlow, E., Bloomfield, J., Dirzo, R., Huber-Sanwald, E., Huenneke, L.F., Jackson, R.B., Kinzig, A., Leemans, R., Lodge, D.M., Mooney, H.A., Oesterheld, M., Poff, N.L.R., Sykes, M.T., Walker, B.H., Walker, M., Wall, D.H. Global biodiversity scenarios for the year 2100. Science, 287(5459), 1770-1774. October 2000.
[11]	Ittekkot, V., Arain, R. Nature of the particulate matter in the river Indus, Pakistan. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 50, 1643-1653. March 1986.
[12]	Dudgeon, D., Arthington, A.H., Gessner, M.O., Kawabata, Z.I., Knowler, D.J., Lévêque, C., Naiman, R.J., Prieur-Richard, A.H., Soto, D., Stiassny, M.L., Sullivan, C.A, “Freshwater biodiversity: Importance, threats, status and conservation challenges”, Biological Reviews, 81, 163-182, May 2006.
[13]	Bloch, M.E, Naturgeschichte Der Ausländischen Fische (Natural History of Foreign Fishes), Verfasser, 1795.
[14]	Jerdon, T.C. On the freshwater fishes of southern India. Madras Journal of Literature and Science, 15(2), 302-346, September 1849.
[15]	Day, F, The Fishes of Malabar, Bernard Quaritch. London, 1865.
[16]	Hora. S.L, Notes on fishes in the Indian museum. V: On the composite genus Glyptosternon, Records of the Indian Museum, 25, 1923, 1-44.
[17]	Menon, A.G.K, “Notes on Fishes in the Indian Museum, Xlvi. On A New Fish of the Genus Laubuca From Cochin’, Records of the Indian Museum, 49(1), 1-4, October 1951.
[18]	Devi, K.R., T.J., Indra., M.B, “Raghunathan., M.M., Bai., & M.S., Ravichandran.. Ichthyofauna of the Tamiraparani river system, Tamil Nadu”, Zoos’ Print Journal, 12(7), 1-2, May 1997.
[19]	Easa, P.S., & Shaji, C.P, Freshwater fishes of Kerala. Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), Thrissur, 2003, 125-128.
[20]	Raghavan, R., Ali, A., Dahanukar, N., Rosser, A, “Is the Deccan Mahseer, Tor Khudree (Sykes, 1839), (Pisces: Cyprinidae) fishery in the Western Ghats sustainable? A participatory approach to stock assessment”, Fisheries Research, 110(1), 29-38. May 2011.
[21]	Kumar, B.A., Raghavan, R, “A checklist of fishes of Kerala, India”, Journal of Threatened Taxa, 7(13), 8036-8080, September 2015.
[22]	Jayachandran, P.R, Bejoy Nandan, S., Sreedevi, O.K., Sanu, V,F, “Influences of environmental factors on fish assemblage in the tropical estuary of south west coast of India, case study of kodungalloor, Azheekod estuary”, International journal of marine science, 3(2), 4-16, September 2013.
[23]	Asha, C.V., Cleetus, R.I., Suson, P.S., Bijoy Nandan, S, “Environmental factors structuring the Fish assemblage distribution and Production potential in Vembanad estuarine system, India”, International Journal of Marine Science, 5(23), 1-13, January 2015.
[24]	Arunachalam, M., Johnson, J.A., Devi, K.R, “Homaloptera santhampariensis, a new species of Balitorid fish (Teleostei:Balitoridae) from a Western Ghats stream of Kerala, India”, Acta Zoologica Taiwanica, 13(1), 31-37, October 2002.
[25]	Kerala State Land Use Board [KSLUB], National resource data bank, Kottayam, 1996, 99-177.
[26]	Legendre, P., Legendre, L, Numerical ecology, 2nd English Edition, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1998.
[27]	Braak, C.T, “Canonical correspondence analysis: A New eigenvector technique for multivariate direct gradient analysis”, Ecology, 67, 1167-1179, September 1986.
[28]	Hammer, O., Harper, D.A., Ryan, P.D, “Past: Paleontological Statistic software package for education and data analysis”, Paleontologia Eletronica, 4 (1), 1-9, June 2001.
[29]	Welcomme, R.L., Winemiller, K. O., Cowx, I. G. “Fish environmental guilds as a tool for assessment of ecological condition of rivers”, River Research & Applications, 22, 377-396, January 2006.
[30]	Ferreira, F., Petrere, M, “The fish zonation of the Itanham river basin in the Atlantic Forest of southeast Brazil”, Hydrobiologia, 636, 11-34, December 2009.
[31]	Matthews, W. J, Patterns in Freshwater Fish Ecology. Chapman and Hall, New York, 1998.
[32]	Casatti, L., Langean, F., Silva, A.M., Castro, R.M, “Stream fishes, water and habitat quality in a pasture dominated basin, southeastern Brazil”, Brazilian Journal of Biology, 66, 681-696, June 2006.
[33]	Annandale, N, “Bombay streams fauna: notes on fresh water fish mostly from the Sataraand Poona Districts”, Records of the Indian Museum, 16, 125-138, April 1919.
[34]	Saxena, S. C, “Adhesive apparatus of a hill stream cyprinoid fish Garra mullya (Sykes)”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, India, 26, 176-188, March 1959.
[35]	Maes, J.S, Damme, V.P., Meire, F., Ollevier, “Statistical modeling of seasonal and environmental influences on the population dynamics of an estuarine fish community”, Marine Biology, 145, 103-342, October 2004.
[36]	Freeman, M., Marcinek, P, “Fish assemblage responses to water withdrawals and water supply reservoirs in piedmont streams”, Environmental management, 38, 435-50, September 2006.
[37]	Angermeier, P., Karr, J, “Fish communities along environmental gradient in a system of tropical streams”. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 9, 117-135, September 1983.
[38]	Wright, J.P., Flecker, A.S, “Deforesting the riverscape: the effects of wood on fish diversity in a Venezuelan piedmont stream”. Biological Conservation, 120, 443-451. December 2004.
[39]	Suvarnaraksha, A., Lek, S., ANG-LEK, S., Jutagate, T, “Fish diversity and assemblage patterns along the longitudinal gradient of a tropical river in the Indo-Burma hotspot region (Ping-Wang River Basin, Thailand)”, Hydrobiologia, 694, 153-169, June 2012.
[40]	Kottelat, M, “Fishes of the Nam Theun and Xe Bangfai basins, Laos with diagnoses of twenty-two new species (Teleostei: Cyprinidae, Balitoridae, Cobitidae, Coiidae and Odontobutidae)”, Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 9(1), 1-128, September 1998.
[41]	Babare, R.S., Chavan, S.P., Kannewad, P.M, “Gut Content Analysis of Wallagoattu and Mystus (sperata) seenghala The Common Catfishes from Godavari River System in Maharashtra State”, Advances in Bioresearch, 4(2), 123-128, June 2013.
[42]	Gupta S, Banerjee S, “Eutropiichthys vacha (Hamilton, 1822), a threatened fish of Indian subcontinent”, Journal of Fisheries, 4, 397, August 2016.
[43]	Silva, E.I., Davies, R.W, “Movements of some indigenous riverine fish in Sri Lanka”, Hydrobiologia, 137, 265-270, July 1986.
[44]	Tongnunui, S., Beamish, F.W, “Habitat and relative abundance of fishes in small rivers in eastern Thailand”, Environmental Biology of Fishes, 85, 209-220, July 2009.
[45]	Petry, A.C., Schulz, U.H, “Longitudinal changes and indicator species of the fish fauna in the subtropical Sinos River, Brazil”, Journal of Fish Biology, 69, 272-290, June 2006.
[46]	Whitfield, A.K, “Ichthyofaunal assemblages in estuaries: A South African case study”, Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 9, 151-186, June 1999.
[47]	Blaber, S., Tropical estuarine fishes: ecology, exploitation and conservation, Wiley-Blackwell, 2000.
[48]	Ibarra, A., Park, Y.S., Brosse, S., Reyjol, Y., Lim, P., Lek, S, “Nested patterns of spatial diversity revealed for fish assemblages in a West European river”, Ecology of Freshwater Fish, 14, 233-242, September 2005.
[49]	Kurup, B.M, “Freshwater Fish Diversity of Kerala: Status, Threats, and Conservation Needs. In sonnenschein, L., Benziger, A (Ed.)”, Conservation of Fishes in Kerala, India, 116-121, August 2010.
[50]	He Y, Wang J, Lek-Ang S, Lek S, “Predicting Assemblages and Species Richness of Endemic Fish in the Upper Yangtze River.” Science of The Total Environment, 408(19), 4211-4220, September 2010.
[51]	Wells, B., Rieman, B., Clayton, J., Horan, D., Jones,C, “Relationships between water, otolith, and scale chemistries of westslope cutthroat trout from the coeurd'alene river, idaho: the potential application of hard-part chemistry to describe movements in freshwater”, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 132, 409-424. May 2003.
[52]	Rainboth, W.J, Fishes of the Cambodian Mekong. FAO species identification field guide for fishery purposes, FAO, Rome, 1996, 265.
[53]	Talwar, P.K., Jhingran, A.G, Inland Fishes of India and Adjacent Countries, Vol. I, II. Oxford and IBH Co., Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. 1991.
[54]	Cheriyan, P.L., Oommen, M, “Post- Flood Changes in the Fish Fauna of Meenachil River, Kerala, South India”, Journal of Aquatic Biology & Fisheries, 8, 53-61, 2020.
[55]	Wang, H.C, Indicator fish species for water quality of freshwater streams in Taiwan. Annusl Report NIEA Taiwan ROC, 9, 207-236, 2002.
[56]	Shen, K., Chang, C., Lizuka, Y., Tzeng, W, “Facultative habitat selection in Pacific tarpon Megalops cyprinoides as revealed by otolith Sr: Ca ratios”, Marine Ecology-progress Series, 387, 255-263.
[57]	Jayaram, K.C, The Freshwater Fishes of the Indian Region, Narendra Publishing House, Delhi, 2010.