Exploring the Faunal Diversity of River Narmada, Jabalpur Region (M.P) India

The current studies intends to provide an overview of species richness of Narmada river. The studies are carried out in 5 prefix sampling stations of river Narmada from October 2011 to September 2012. The water samples were collected every month for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of planktons. Ichthyofauna of river Narmada is very rich.29 species of fishes were recorded belonging to 5 orders (Cypriniformes, Beloniformes, Ophiocephaliformes, Perciformes and Siluriformes) where, Cypriniformes was observed to be the most dominating group with 22 species. In Phytoplanktons, 19 species belonging to 4 different groups ( Chlorophyceae, Bacillariophyceae, Cyanophyceae, Euglenophyceae) was recorded. Chlorophyceae was observed to be the most dominant group with 8 species and Chlorella as the most dominating species. . In Zooplanktons, 13 species were recorded belonging to 5 different groups (Protozoa, Copepoda, Ostracoda, Cladocera and Rotifer). Copepoda was observed to be the most dominating group with 4 species and Cyclops as the most dominating species. Planktonic abundance was observed to be in peak during Summer season whereas declined in monsoon and remained intermediate in winters.