THE STATUS OF FISH DIVERSITY OF RIVER CHENAB, PAKISTAN - M. Altaf; A. Javid; A. M. Khan; A. Hussain; M. Umair; Z. Ali (Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 2015)
River Chenab is an important wetland of Punjab, Pakistan. Water is becoming polluted due to anthropogenic impact i.e. industrial waste, urbanization, agriculture intensification and global warming. The main objectives of the study were to know the diversity and distribution of fish species of river Chenab. The study was focused at three heads of the river namely Head Marala (district Sialkot), Head Khanki (district Gujrat) and Head Qadirabad (district Gujranwala). Status of fish diversity was recorded with the help of local fisher man from the study area; the data was collected in all seasons. Both, direct and indirect methods were applied to find out fish diversity of the area. The diversity indices were analyzed through statistical software PAST version 2.17 C. During the sampling 34 species was recorded from the river Chenab. The diversity indices indicate a higher diversity at the Head Qadirabad than at Head Khanki and Head Marala. The possible reason may be the presence of a large number of natural and manmade ponds. During flood, fish from these ponds move to the river; further eggs and fingerlings move to rivers through birds and fisherman. Diversity is divided into two components as;
Keywords: journal article; Fish Diversity; River Chenab; Pakistan