Journal of
Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 January 2019 | 11(1): 13175–13179
First report of the catfish Nilgiri Mystus Hemibagrus
punctatus (Jerdon, 1849) (Bagridae)
from Stanley Reservoir, Tamil Nadu, India
Jayasimhan Praveenraj
1, Nallathambi Moulitharan
2 & M.P. Goutham-Bharathi 3
1 Indian Council of Agricultural
Research-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair, Andaman
& Nicobar Islands 744101, India.
2 Dr. M.G.R.
Fisheries College and Research Institute, Ponneri, Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu 601204, India.
3 Zoological Survey
of India, Andaman and Nicobar Regional Centre Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar
Islands 744101, India.
1 jpr948@gmail.com (corresponding
author), 2 moulitharan769677@gmail.com, 3
gouthamrussia@gmail.com
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4199.11.1.13175-13179
| ZooBank:
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7F05A4BB-865C-4304-8A17-B945F752E96C
Editor: Rajeev Raghavan, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies,
Kochi, India. Date of publication: 26 January 2019 (online &
print)
Manuscript details: #4199
| Received 18 April 2018 | Final received 03 January 2019 | Finally accepted 10
January 2019
Citation: Praveenraj, J., N. Moulitharan & M.P. Goutham-Bharathi (2019).
First report of the
catfish Nilgiri Mystus Hemibagrus punctatus
(Jerdon, 1849) (Bagridae)
from Stanley Reservoir, Tamil Nadu, India. Journal
of Threatened Taxa 11(1): 13175–13179; https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4199.11.1.13175-13179
Copyright: Praveenraj et al. 2019.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by adequate credit to the author(s)
and the source of publication.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The first author acknowledges Deepak Ganguly for the preparation of images. The second author acknowledges the assistance
and support offered by K.P. Kumar and C. Samythurai, Kolathur, during the field trips at Stanley Reservoir,
India.
The
catfish genus Hemibagrus is represented
by three species in the Indian subcontinent, namely, H. menoda
(Hamilton, 1822), H. maydelli (Rössel, 1964), and H. punctatus
(Jerdon, 1849).
Hemibagrus menoda
is reported from the Brahmaputra, Ganges, Mahanadi, and Godavari river
drainages in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh (Ng & Ferraris 2000; Ng 2010) and
H. maydelli is known to be restricted to the
Krishna River system in peninsular India (Dahanukar
et al. 2011). The Nilgiri
Mystus H. punctatus
is endemic to the Cauvery River system in the Western Ghats of India (Dahanukar et al. 2004; Ng & Kottelat
2013), where it faces severe threats including pollution, habitat alteration
due to construction of dams and indiscriminate fishing resulting in drastic
population declines close to 100% and the species being listed as Critically
Endangered on the IUCN Red List (Raghavan & Ali
2011).
Jerdon (1849)
described Bagrus punctatus
(=Hemibagrus Bleeker,
1862) from the Cauvery River and its tributaries in southern India. Subsequent records of the species are
available from the main stem of the Cauvery (Rao
& Seshachar 1927; Hora
1937; Ali et al. 2013) and its various tributaries including Bhavani (Day 1867, 1877, 1878; Mukerji
1931; Rajan 1955), Moyar (Rajan 1955; Rajan 1963; Manimekalan 1998), Hemavathy (Jayaram 1977; Madhyastha & Murugan 1993), Kabini (Easa & Shaji 1997), and Bhavani (Athikadavu) (Ali et al.
2013). Recent ichthyofaunal
surveys (March 2018) in the Stanley Reservoir (Image 1; Fig. 1) resulted in the
collection of 10 specimens of H. punctatus,
which constituting a new distribution record for the species. The collected specimens were identified
following Jerdon (1849) and Ng & Kottelat (2013) and subsequently preserved in 10% formalin
and deposited in the freshwater fish collections of the Zoological Survey of
India, Kolkata (ZSI FF7653-7654), and in the personal collection of J. Praveenraj (JPC-1-8) (Table 1).
Materials
collected: ZSI FF 7653-7654, 2ex., 16.iii.2018,
138.84–162.82 mm SL, India, Tamil Nadu, Cauvery River, Stanley Reservoir, 11.9-0N
& 77.770E, 221.50m, coll. N. Moulitharan;
JPC-1-8, 8 ex., 16.iii.2018, 132.97–179.8 mm SL, India, Tamil Nadu, Cauvery
River, Stanley Reservoir, 11.9-0N
& 77.770E, coll. N. Moulitharan.
Hemibagrus punctatus was not recorded specifically from the
Stanley Reservoir in the scientific literature despite being
known to be consistently harvested in gill net (mesh size 24–45 mm)
fisheries. Locally known as ‘Kallu Keluthi’ in Tamil (Kallu: stone, Keluthi: catfish),
this species, however, represents only a negligible part of the capture
fisheries of the reservoir and is generally consumed in the dry form.
Hemibagrus punctatus is widely considered to be a rare species
as most previous records are based only on a single specimen (e.g., Mukerji 1931; Hora 1937; Rajan 1955). This
species was also considered extinct from its native range until its rediscovery
(based on four specimens) after a gap of 14 years from the tributaries of
Cauvery in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka (Ali et al. 2013).
A
number of factors pose threat to the continued survival of H. punctatus in and around the Stanley Reservoir,
including ghost fishing, use of pesticides for agriculture along the shores of
the reservoir (Image 3), and increasing occurrence of invasive alien species,
namely, Oreochromis spp. and Clarias gariepinus (Image
4).
One
specimen of H. punctatus (JPC-8, 179.8mm SL)
was dissected for examining the gut content, which revealed traces of fish and
terrestrial grass. In the specimens
examined, we also noted the presence of forked maxillary barbel
(Image 2C), an aberration that was also recorded in Mystus
vittatus (Bloch, 1794) (Rao
1984).
Although
H.punctatus is assessed as Critically
Endangered (Raghavan & Ali 2013), Ali et al.
(2013) suggested reassigning it to the Vulnerable category considering that its
average population decline was more than or equal to 30%. This species, however, continues to face a
decline in its native range (Ali et al. 2013), and ecological and
community-based conservation measures need to be implemented to ensure healthy
populations of this threatened species.
Table 1. Morphometric
characters of Hemibagrus punctatus (n=10) from Stanley Reservoir in Tamil Nadu,
India. All proportional
measurements are expressed as percents of standard
length and head length.
Characters |
Mean (Mean ± S.E.) |
Standard Length (SL) |
155.77±5.55mm |
In % SL |
In mm |
Head length |
27.77 |
Head depth |
14.40 |
Maximum head width |
20.44 |
Pre-dorsal length |
39.75 |
Pre-pectoral length |
26.71 |
Pre-pelvic length |
52.63 |
Pre-anal length |
70.47 |
Pre-anus length |
59.29 |
Least depth of caudal peduncle |
10.04 |
Caudal-peduncle length |
17.53 |
Dorsal-fin length |
19.67 |
Dorsal-fin base length |
15.44 |
Pectoral-fin length |
18.49 |
Pectoral-fin base length |
4.80 |
Pelvic-fin length |
14.94 |
Anal-fin length |
14.04 |
Anal-fin base length |
12.23 |
Dorsal to adipose distance |
17.82 |
Adipose-fin height |
4.60 |
Adipose-fin base length |
12.97 |
Post adipose distance |
15.58 |
Maxillary barbel
length |
58.94 |
Nasal barbel
length |
11.16 |
Mandibular barbel
length |
23.51 |
Inner mandibular barbel
length |
12.47 |
Eye diameter |
3.69 |
Snout length |
11.42 |
Inter-orbital length |
9.91 |
Dorsal spine length |
13.15 |
Caudal-fin length |
22.50 |
Post-orbital length |
12.69 |
Body depth at anus |
15.65 |
Pectoral-spine length |
16.75 |
Head length (HL) |
43.26±1.81mm |
In % HL |
|
Head depth |
51.86 |
Maximum head width |
70.29 |
Eye diameter |
13.29 |
Snout length |
41.13 |
Inter-orbital length |
35.69 |
Post-orbital length |
45.69 |
Maxillary barbel
length |
212.24 |
Nasal barbel
length |
40.20 |
Mandibular barbel
length |
84.67 |
Inner mandibular barbel
length |
44.90 |
For
images/figures – click here
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