Ornamental Fishes of Coochbehar District of West Bengal, India

A study was carried out during 2013 2016 to record the status of present ornamental fish diversity from Coochbehar district of West Bengal, India. One hundred and five species belonging to nine order and 29 families were recorded during the study. It has been recorded that 52 species have ornamental value of which 31 are consumed by the local people as food and other 21 species have only the ornamental importance. After extensive ex-situ study in the laboratory 25 species were recorded as the potential ornamental fishes and other 27 were excluded because of various factors that need extensive study to acclimatize them for the aquarium habitat.12 exotic fishes were also recorded during the survey from the Coochbehar district of which 3 were ornamental fishes.