Abstract:
The Western Ghats is one among the four hotspots biodiversity of India. The WGs cover an area of about 129,037 km2 stretching to a length of 1,490 km along the western coast of India from Tapti Valley in the north (about 21°C16’ N) to Kanyakumari in the south (8°C19’ N), traversing through six coastal states of the country, viz., Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. The southern and central division of WGs, which includes rivers and streams of Kerala, has been identified as one of the few sites in the world showing exceptional biodiversity and a high degree of endemism with respect to freshwater fishes. A comprehensive document of the freshwater fish diversity of WGs showed that about 300 species of freshwater fishes available in the system, 197 (about 67%) are endemic and 117 species are endemic ornamental fishes. Even though India is blessed with a rich diversity of fresh water fishes that are endemic to WG, the resource is not yet tapped properly for the purpose due to obvious reasons. The export trade of ornamental fishes in India is largely based on the indigenous ornamental fishes collected from the wild. Due to the indiscriminate exploitation, many of the fishes have become endangered. In this context arises the need of development of captive breeding technology for their hatchery production. So far breeding technology of 10 prioritised species of ornamental fishes have been developed and the details of them are presented in this paper. The fishes are Puntius denisonii, P.filamentosus, P.melanampyx, P. pookodensis, Garra mullya, Danio malabaricus, Pristolepis marginata, Chela fasciata, Nemacheilus traingularis, Nemacheilus semiarmatus. Biological parameters, water quality parameters and reproductive strategies of each species are discussed in the paper. Suggestions are also made on their in-situ and ex-situ conservation and sustainable harvest.
Biography:
Dr. T.V. Anna Mercy studied Marine Biology and graduated as M.Sc. in 1976. She joined the Department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, Kerala University, Trivandrum under the guidance of Dr. N. Krishna Pillai. Her Ph. D work was on a unique fish, the Indian blind clariid fish Horaglanis krishnai Menon that dwells in the subterranean wells at Kottayam, Kerala and received her Ph.D in 1982. She progressed to become the Junior Assistant Professor in Aquaculture at the College of Fisheries, Kerala Agricultural University, Panangad during the year 1984. In 2002 she became Professor. She pioneered research on Indigenous fresh water Ornamental Fishes of the Western Ghats of India and developed captive breeding technology for 15 prioritized fresh water species including Sahyadria denisonii popularly known as “Miss Kerala”, first of its kind in India. Sahyadria denisonii is a much sought after ornamental fish in the international market. She was instrumental in conducting innumerable training programmes on ornamental fish culture for the rural people at state level and national level. Based on her experience, she is by default a valued resource person on ornamental fish culture at the state, national and international levels. She has published about 100 research papers including 50 in peer reviewed journals. She has authored/co authored the many books/chapters; Presented research papers on different aspects of ornamental fishes in several international conferences at Brazil, Oregon,USA, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Iceland, Netherland, China, Srilanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia. She was instrumental in developing Kumblm Panchayt (where KUFOS is situated) in to an ornamental fish village where 300 families were trained for ornamental fish culture. For this work she received the International Award as one of the Eleven laureates of Women's World Summit Foundation (WWSF) Geneva, Switzerland 2010for the "Women's creativity in rural life". The award consists of US$ 1000 and a certificate. She retired from service of Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean studies, Cochin after 32 years of teaching, research and extension activities. At present she is the Director of the Department of Aquaculture, Sacred Heart College (Autonomous), Mahatma Gandhi University, Thevera, Cochin, Kerala.
