Studies on Ichthyofaunal Diversity of Temar River, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India

The fishes are one of the most important vertebrate, provide rich protein sources for human and several animals and important elements in the economy of many countries. Fish diversity of river essentially represents the fish faunal diversity and their abundance. Rivers conserve a rich variety of fish species which supports the commercial fisheries. The country is rich in diversity of such important group of animals. Keeping in the view, the diversity of fish fauna of the Temar River in Jabalpur District, Madhya Pradesh, India, has been studied form the period November 2013 to October 2014. The aim of the study was to explore the fish fauna of Temar River in the course of investigation, three sampling site were selected viz. Near Temar Bridge, Near Temar Fall and Near Saliwara village, Jabalpur. The total 34 fish species were recorded under 7 order and 11 families.2 species of Clupiformes, 16 species of Cypriniformes, 8 species of Siluriformes, 1 species of Beloniformes, 3 species Ophiocephaliformes, 2 species of Perciformes and 2 species of Masta cembeliformes have been recorded. The Cyprinidae family is dominant followed by Bagridae and Ophiocephalidae. Recently, the Tor tor fish species commonly called Mahasheer has been declared state Fish of Madhya Pradesh. The over fishing and pollution are the major threat for fish diversity of the Temar River.