Studies on ichthyofaunal diversity of Head Qadirabad, River Chenab, Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

Present study was aimed to access the ichthyofaunal diversity at Head Qadirabad, Chenab, Pakistan. 1391 fish specimens were collected during September 2015 to June 2016 on monthly basis. 43 species of fishes belonging to seven orders, 14 families and 34 genera were recorded. Overall fish catches were dominated by native fishes along with some exotic fishes like Cyprinus carpio, Ctenopharyngodon idella, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Oreochromis niloticus and Oreochromis mossambicus. On the basis of percentage contribution of families to their orders; Siluriformes (35.71%) was found dominant followed by Perciformes (28.57%). Cyprinidae was dominant on the basis of number and percentage contribution of genus and species represented with 14 genera (41.18%) and 19 species (44.19%) followed by Bagridae represented with three genera (8.82%) and four species (9.3%). The values for diversity, richness and evenness indices were 3.36, 13.36 and 0.89 respectively. Effective conservation measures are suggested to sustain the population of commercially important fishes.