Fish diversity and conservation aspects in an aquatic ecosystem in northeastern India

Abstract

Biodiversity and its conservation are regarded as one of the major issues of enabling sustainable use of natural resources. This contribution focuses on the diversity of fish population and their conservation aspects in the biggest freshwater tectonic Lake Sone (3458.12ha) in Assam, India. The study revealed the occurrence of 69 species of fishes in the lake belonging to 49 genera, 24 families and 11 orders. Of these fishes, 84.2% belonged to the primary freshwater group (Cyprinids 35.39%), while the rest to the peripheral class. Attempts have been made to portray the fish diversity of the lake zoogeographically and emphasise the value of conserving biodiversity. Further, results of linear regression revealed significant correlations between fish yield and soil organic carbon, soil potassium, water pH, total alkalinity and conductivity, and aquatic macrophytic biomass.