FRESHWATER FISH SPECIES DIVERSITY AT CHASHMA BARRAGE, PAKISTAN

S. Ashraf¹, M. Altaf^2*, A. M. Khan³, M. S. Haidar¹, N. Amjad¹, A. Naseem¹ and M. S. Khan¹

¹Department of Zoology, University of Lahore, Sargodha campus, Sargodha-Pakistan

²Department of Forestry, Range and Wildlife Management, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur-Pakistan

³Department of Zoology, University of the Punjab, Lahore-Pakistan

Corresponding author’s email: altaf_mughal450@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Pakistan managed extensive canal irrigation systems and has 19 Ramsar sites. Almost 27,977 fish species are present globally; there are 786 marine and 171 freshwater fishes in Pakistan. Fish diversity and distribution are closely related to various factors i.e. depth of water, availability of food, topography, breeding sites, and physicochemical features. Therefore, it is necessary to study the diversity of ichthyofauna in various regions and elevations. So, this study was planned to examine the fish diversity of Chashma Barrage to include more data related to fish diversity and distribution. Data were collected both by direct (physical count) and indirect methods (meeting with local people of Chashma Barrage) to find out fish diversity of Chashma Reservoir, Mianwali, from April 2016 to March 2017. In the current study, 1089 fish specimens of 21 species were documented from Chashma Barrage monthly. The Shannon-wiener Index (H') was recorded as 2.17, Simpson Index (S) was 0.16, Richness (R) was 20.67 and Evenness (E) was 0.712. It is concluded that study area has high diversity of fishes. Chashma Barrage is an important wetland for fishes, it should be declared as Ramsar site.

Keywords: Freshwater, diversity, fishes, Barrage, fauna.

http://doi.org/10.36899/JAPS.2022.3.0486
Published first online October 19. 2021

INTRODUCTION

It is observed that the largest canal system is present in Pakistan; and almost 225wetlands, out of total only 19areRamsar sites. Pakistan consists of 9.7% wetland area, out of total nearly 26% consist of coastal and 74% consist of freshwater wetland (Altaf et al., 2014). Indus River is the longest river in Pakistan and consists of one dam i.e. Tarbella (the world’s largest rock-filled dam) as well as six barrages i.e. i) Jinnah, ii) Chashma, iii) Taunsa, iv) Guddu, v) Sukkur and vi) Kotri (FAO, 2011). Freshwater is a necessary resource for animals alongwith human activities i.e. domestic needs, agriculture and industry (Bartram and Ballance, 1996) and also has importance for the evolution of fauna and flora (Gleick et al., 2002). Freshwater played critical role in human being societies evolution (Gupta and Gupta, 2006).

A total of 27,977 fish species are present in the world, out of this total, 786 marine fishes (Mirza and Alam, 2000) and 171 freshwater fishes (Mirza, 2004) reported from “Pakistan”.Froese and Pauly (2014) documented freshwater ichthyofauna species from selected areas of Asia i.e., 1643 from China, 951 from India, 250 from Bangladesh, 277 from Iran and 128 from Afghanistan.

Although many ichthyologists have documented the fish diversity of river Indus(Mirza and Mirza, 2014; Hussain et al., 2016; Muhammad et al., 2017a) and its tributaries (Khan et al., 2011; Altaf et al., 2015; Hussain et al., 2015) as well as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (Altaf, 2021), but there is need more study about fish diversity and distribution. Furthermore, there are many threats to the ichthyofauna of rivers due to deforestation, illegal hunting and poaching, global warming and pollution (Khan et al., 2008; FAO, 2011).

In the world, marine and freshwater fish diversity and habitat are decreasing due to several factors i.e., habitat loss, agriculture intensification, industrial development, urbanization, overexploitation, change in drainage, and water flow through diversion and damming. Fish diversity and distribution are closely related to various factors i.e. depth of water, availability of food, topography, breeding sites, and water physicochemical features. Therefore, it is necessary to observe the diversity of fish in various ecosystems. This study was planned to examine the fish diversity of Chashma Barrage, Pakistan.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

During study data were noted both by direct (i.e., total count) and Indirect (i.e., meetings with local people of study area) methods to find out fish diversity of Chashma Barrage, Mianwali, from April, 2016 to March, 2017.

Fish specimens were collected from the upper and lower side of Chashma Barrage, Mianwali (Figure 1); using different types of fishnets i.e. hooks, drag nets, cast nets, gill nets and hand nets each month whole year. All fish specimens were preserved in the research laboratory of “Department of Zoology, University of the Lahore, Sargodha campus”. All specimen were tagged and identified with the help of standard keys (Mirza, 2004).

Shannon-Weiner Diversity (H'): “Shannon-Weiner Diversity index” was analyzed as (Shannon and Weaver, 1949);

“H' = - [∑P₁LnP₁]”

Where

H': “Shannon-Weiner Index”

P_i: “Proportion of species / Total no. of species”.

Ln P_i: “Natural Logarithm of P_i”.

Relative Abundance: We used the following formula to calculate the relative abundance of fish species,

R.A (%) =”ni / N”

Where ‘ni’ represents the number of individuals of one species and ‘N’ represented the total number of individuals of all fish species.

Evenness Index (E): “Evenness Index” was derived by the following formula (Pielou, 1966);

Evenness Index= “H' / Logn (S)”

H' is “Shannon-Weiner Index”, Logn represents the natural logarithm and S represents the total no of species.

Richness Index (R): “Richness Index” of Chashma reservoir was calculated as(Margalef, 1958);

Richness Index= “S- 1 / Logn (N)”

Where ‘S’ represent the total no. of species, while ‘N’ represent the total number of individual of all species.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In the current study, a total of 1089 fish specimens of 21 species were collected from Chashma Lake on a monthly basis (Table 1). During study noted that the highest specimens reported in February (n=158), the highest diversity was noted in December as H'=0.28592 (Table 2). Diversity indices showed that the study area has high diversity (Shannon-Weiner index=2.17) and richness (20.67) (Table 3). Fishing was prohibited in June, July and August according to the Punjab fisheries department rules. The numbers of fish catches were increased from October, November up to January. The maximum catches were observed in December 165, January 153 and February 158 (Table 1).Altaf et al. (2015) recorded 34 species and 1766 ichthyofauna specimens from the river Chenab and also reported Shannon diversity indices were 2.83, 2.5 and 2.62 and richness indices were 5.14, 5.02 and 4.77 from head Qadirabad, Khanki and Marala respectively. Hussain et al. (2015) recorded the 22 ichthyofauna specimens species and 976 individuals from river Ravi and also documented Shannon diversity indices as 2.749, 2.706 and 2.654, while richness indices as 3.515, 3.421 and 3.27 in 2011, 2012 and 2013 from river Ravi. Khan et al. (2008) recorded the twenty ichthyofauna species from the Chashma barrage and also 22 ichthyofauna species noted from the Taunsa barrage. Altaf et al. (2011b) documented the 33 ichthyofauna species from the head Qadirabad. While, Khan et al. (2011) recorded the 50 ichthyofauna species from the Ravi while 30 ichthyofauna species documented from the river Jhelum.

Table 1: Fish diversity recorded during study period of 2016-2017 from Chashma Reservoir.

Twenty-one species were belonged to 5 orders, belonged to8 families and belonged to14 genera during one year study as shown in (Table1). The overall dominance of fish species by family showed that the Cyprinidae 48% was the most dominating family having ten genera while the family Schilbeidae 10%, Cichlidae 9%, Channidae 9% and Bagridae 9% have two genera with a frequency of 9% in Chashma reservoir. The other three families Siluridae, Mastacembelidae and Notopteridae have a frequency 5% with one genus for each (Figure 2). During the study noted that dominated species of fishes were as; Labeo gonius, Cyprinus carpio, Wallago attu, Labeo rohita, Sperata sarwari, Channa marulius, Oreochromis mossambicus, Channa punctata, Cirrhinus reba, Labeo gonius, and Hypopthalmichthys molitrix, respectively (Table 1). The Shannon-wiener Index of fish fauna at Chashma reservoir was calculated as H'=2.17, while Simpson (S), Richness (R) and Evenness (E) were calculated as 0.16, 0.712767 and 20.67, respectively (Table 2). Altaf et al. (2011b) documented the 33 fish species from head Qadirabad. Similarly, Khan et al. (2011)reported50 fish species from the Ravi while 30 fish species were listed from river Jhelum. Altaf et al. (2015) recorded the total number of species individual which were following Thaila 107, Dola 129, Chirra 89, Keengar 70, Mali 68, Khaga 28, Battu 49, Shinghara 9, Kaan 1, Doli 14, Soli 48, Sol 6, Kalbaso 37, Grass carp 43, Gulfam 53, Mori 22, Rohu 110, Silver 53, Garoj 7, Pari 15, Foji khaga 2 and Singhi 16.Altaf et al. (2015) and Altaf et al. (2011b) reported the Shannon index as; 1.33 and 3.11 from river Chenab and head Qadirabad, respectively.

Common carp Cyprinus carpio (n=213) was abundant in the study area (Table 1) and also reported from river Chenab (Altaf et al., 2011a; Altaf et al., 2011b; Altaf et al., 2015; Latif et al., 2016; Muhammad et al., 2017c; Muhammad et al., 2018), Indus (Khan et al., 2008; Hussain et al., 2016; Muhammad et al., 2017a), Jhelum (Khan et al., 2008; Mirza et al., 2011), Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017), and Ravi (Hussain et al., 2015).

Table 2:Month-wise diversity at fish fauna of Chashma Lake.

Note: N (number of individuals); R (Richness Index); RA (relative abundance); H' (Shannon Index) and E (Evenness Index).

Table 3: Fish diversity of Chashma Reservoir.

Rohu Labeo rohita(n=104) was common in study area (Table 1) and also reported from river Chenab (Khan et al., 2008; Mirza et al., 2011; Altaf et al., 2015; Latif et al., 2016; Muhammad et al., 2017c), Indus (Khan et al., 2008; Mirza and Mirza, 2014; Hussain et al., 2016; Muhammad et al., 2017a; Sheikh et al., 2017), Jhelum (Mirza et al., 2011; Mirza and Mirza, 2014), Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017) and Ravi (Hussain et al., 2015; Hussain et al., 2017).

Mori Cirrhinus mrigala (n=11) was captured from the study area (Table 1) and also reported from river Chenab (Altaf et al., 2011a; Altaf et al., 2011b; Altaf et al., 2015; Muhammad et al., 2017c), Indus (Khan et al., 2008; Hussain et al., 2016), Jhelum, Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017) and Ravi (Hussain et al., 2015; Hussain et al., 2017).

Reba Machhali Cirrhinus reba (n=21) was observed from the study area (Table 1) and also reported from river Chenab (Altaf et al., 2011b), Indus (Hussain et al., 2016), Jhelum (Mirza et al., 2011; Sheikh et al., 2017), Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017) and Ravi (Hussain et al., 2015).Grass Carp Ctenopharyngodon idella(n=16)was documented from the study area (Table 1) and also reported from river Chenab (Altaf et al., 2011a; Altaf et al., 2011b; Altaf et al., 2015; Muhammad et al., 2017c), Indus (Khan et al., 2008), Jhelum (Khan et al., 2008) and Ravi (Hussain et al., 2015).

Sareha Labeo gonius (2n=94) was abundant in study and also reported from area river Indus (Khan et al., 2008; Hussain et al., 2017; Muhammad et al., 2017a). Kalbans Labeo calbasu (n=20)was observed from the study area (Table 1) and also documented from the study area river Chenab (Altaf et al., 2011b), Indus (Khan et al., 2008; Muhammad et al., 2017c), Jhelum (Khan et al., 2008; Mirza et al., 2011), Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017) and Ravi (Hussain et al., 2015).

Very few specimens of thaila Catla catla (n=4) was captured from the study area (Table 1) and also reported from river Chenab (Altaf et al., 2011a; Altaf et al., 2011b; Altaf et al., 2015; Muhammad et al., 2017c), Indus (Khan et al., 2008; Hussain et al., 2016; Muhammad et al., 2017a; Sheikh et al., 2017), Jhelum (Khan et al., 2008; Muhammad et al., 2017c), Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017; Muhammad et al., 2017c) and Ravi (Hussain et al., 2015; Hussain et al., 2017; Muhammad et al., 2017c).

Gold fish Carassius auratus (n=2) was rare in study area (Table 1) and also reported from river Indus (Khan et al., 2008) and Ravi (Hussain et al., 2015). Tilapia Oreochromis aureus (n=2) was also rare in study area ea and also reported from river Chenab (Altaf et al., 2015), Indus (Khan et al., 2008; Muhammad et al., 2017a), Jhelum (Khan et al., 2008; Mirza et al., 2011), Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017) and Ravi (Hussain et al., 2015). Specimens of Mozambique machhali Oreochromis mossambicus (n=22) was captured from the study area (Table 1) and also reported from River Indus (Khan et al., 2008; Hussain et al., 2016; Muhammad et al., 2017a) and Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017).

Dola Channa punctata (n=24) was documented from the study area (Table 1) and also reported from river Chenab (Altaf et al., 2011b; Altaf et al., 2015), Indus (Khan et al., 2008; Hussain et al., 2016; Muhammad et al., 2017a), Jhelum (Khan et al., 2008; Mirza et al., 2011), Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017) and Ravi (Hussain et al., 2015). Specimens (n=32) of soul Channa marulius were captured from the study area (Table 1) and also reported from river Chenab (Altaf et al., 2011b; Altaf et al., 2015; Muhammad et al., 2017b), Indus (Khan et al., 2008; Hussain et al., 2016; Muhammad et al., 2017a; Muhammad et al., 2017b), Jhelum (Khan et al., 2008; Mirza et al., 2011; Muhammad et al., 2017b), Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017; Muhammad et al., 2017b) and Ravi (Hussain et al., 2015; Muhammad et al., 2017b).

Sangari Sperata sarwari (n=52) was seen from the study area and it was also reported from river Chenab (Altaf et al., 2011b; Altaf et al., 2015), Indus (Khan et al., 2008), Jhelum (Mirza et al., 2011), Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017) and Ravi (Hussain et al., 2015).

Very few specimens (n=5) of khaga Rita rita were recorded from the study area (Table 1) and khaga was also reported from River Chenab (Altaf et al., 2011b; Altaf et al., 2015), Indus (Khan et al., 2008; Hussain et al., 2016), Jhelum (Mirza et al., 2011), Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017) and Ravi (Hussain et al., 2015). Only two specimens of Jhali Eutropiichthys vacha and Bachhwa Clupisoma garua were documented from the study area (Table 1) and both were also reported from river Chenab (Altaf et al., 2011b; Altaf et al., 2015), Indus (Khan et al., 2008; Hussain et al., 2016; Muhammad et al., 2017a), Jhelum (Khan et al., 2008; Mirza et al., 2011), Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017) and Ravi (Hussain et al., 2015).

Mali Wallago attu (2=09) was abundant in study area (Table 1) and mali was also reported from river Chenab (Altaf et al., 2011b; Altaf et al., 2015), Indus (Khan et al., 2008; Hussain et al., 2016; Muhammad et al., 2017a), Jhelum (Khan et al., 2008; Mirza et al., 2011), Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017) and Ravi (Hussain et al., 2015). Baam Machhali Mastacembelu sarmatus (n=33) was documented from the study area (Table 1) and also reported from river Chenab (Altaf et al., 2011b; Altaf et al., 2015), Indus (Khan et al., 2008; Hussain et al., 2016; Muhammad et al., 2017a), Jhelum (Khan et al., 2008) and Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017).

But Pari Notopterus Notopterus (n=8) was noted from the study area (Table 1) and also reported from river Chenab (Altaf et al., 2011b; Altaf et al., 2015), Indus (Khan et al., 2008; Hussain et al., 2016; Muhammad et al., 2017a), Jhelum (Khan et al., 2008), Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017) and Sutlej (Iqbal et al., 2017).

It is concluded that study area has high diversity of fishes. Chashma Barrage is an important wetland for many aquatic species especially fishes, it should be declared as Ramsar site.

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