Comparative account on
icthyofauna of Pocharam and Wyra lakes of Andhra Pradesh, India
C.A. Nageswara Rao 1, J.
Deepa 2 & Md. Hakeel 3
1,2,3Zoological Survey of India,
Freshwater Biology Regional Centre, Plot 366 / 1, Attapur (V), Ring Road,
Hyderguda P.O, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 500048, India
Email: 1 fbrczsi@gmail.com,2 deepajzsi@gmail.com (corresponding author)
Date of publication (online): 26
February 2011
Date of publication (print): 26
February 2011
ISSN 0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893
(print)
Editor: K.
Rema Devi
Manuscript details:
Ms # o1933
Received 28 January 2008
Final received 04 January 2011
Finally accepted 17 January 2011
Citation:Rao, C.A.N., J. Deepa & M. Hakeel (2011). Comparative account
on icthyofauna of Pocharam and Wyra lakes of Andhra Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa3(2): 1564-1566.
Copyright: ©
C.A. Nageswara Rao, J. Deepa & Md. Hakeel 2011. Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article
in any medium for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by
providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Acknowledgements: The
authors are grateful to the Director, Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Kolkata
for providing facilities and encouragement to carry out this work.
Andhra
Pradesh has a long tradition of constructing big dams and reservoirs. Some of the oldest man-made lakes in
the country are situated in the state: Hussain sagar (500yr old), Saroornagar
(275yr), Mir Alam (170yr), Pocharam (90yr), Wyra (77yr) and so on. In the present study two historic lakes
of Andhra Pradesh have been selected for taxonomic comparison of fishes. Projects “Limnological and Faunistic
Studies on Pocharam Lake, Medak Dist. A.P.” (2003-05) and “Limnological and
Faunistic Studies on Wyra Lake, Khammam Dist. A.P.” (2005-07), were conducted
by the Fresh Water Biological Station, Zoological Survey of
India/Hyderabad. As a part of the work the faunal diversity of fish fauna
of these lakes have been studied.
Fishes
are very important from the biodiversity point of view enjoying different
ecosystems, habitats, and niches of aquatic environment. A limited number of studies have also
been carried out on ichthyofauna of some specific wetlands of Andhra Pradesh
(Chacko 1949; David 1963; Dutt & Reddy 1979; Barman 1993 &
Chandrasekhar 2003). The fish
fauna of Medak District has been studied by Rahimullah (1944). The fish fauna of Khammam District was
partially studied by Barman (1993).
Pocharam Lake: The largest and the most important reservoir of the Medak District
is the Pocharam Reservoir (water spread area 16.835km2, with a depth
of about 6-7m) formed by damming the Aleru River. It was constructed between 1916 and 1922 (18008’N &
77057’E) about 100km north-west of Hyderabad in Medak and Nizamabad
districts. Owing to its unique
location and the presence of forested tracts, the vertebrate faunal diversity
is rich in comparison to other lakes.
Wyra Lake: Wyra Lake is located to the north of Wyra Town, about 25km south
of Khammam between Khammam and Kothagudem towns in Khammam District. It was constructed in 1930. The lake is located 2km off the
Hyderabad-Visakhapatnam highway, and is surrounded by greenery. Its water is unpolluted and potable and
serves nearly 20,000 acres for cultivation and provides drinking water for 70
villages. The water spread area of
the lake is about 19.166km2.
Material and Methods
During
the course of quarterly surveys in connection with the faunistic studies of the Pocharam and Wyra lakes, fish
collections were made with the help of hand operated nets of varying sizes by
randomly netting different areas of the wetland. Fishermen were engaged to operate cast-nets to collect the
fishes. Some fish were collected
from fishermen when they were
fishing, and also at the time of harvesting. Fish from various sublocalities of Pocharam Lake (Pocharam
Village, Pochammaralu, Rajpet, burugupalle, Polkampet, Wadalaparthy and
Kottapalle, were collected during three quarterly surveys from July 2003 to
April 2005.) From Wyra Lake
(Siddiq Nagar, Singarayepalem, Lallurigudem, Mallavaram, Narayanapuram,
Reddigydem and Brahmanapalle) fish were collected during three quarterly
surveys from April, 2006-March, 2008). The specimens were fixed in 10% formalin. Fishes were identified with the aid of standard literatures
on the groups viz. Jayaram (1999), Talwar & Jhingran (1991), and Menon
(1999).
Systematic account: From Pocharam Lake 24 species under 12 families and six orders
were recorded from a total of 755 specimens collected and from Wyra Lake 22
species of fishes under 17 genera, 11 families and six orders from a total of 808 specimens were collected (Table 1).
Discussion
The icthyofauna of both lakes are dominated by cyprinid and
cobitid species (Cypriniformes) followed by the species of perches
(Perciformes) and species of other orders. Geographically both lakes are in the Deccan Plateau and are
natural tributaries of the Godavari River which are meant for agriculture, fish
harvesting and drinking water supply to nearby villages. These two lakes are not influenced by
urban sewage and are surrounded by semi-deciduous forest with sugar cane,
cotton and paddy fields. Physico-chemical parameters of both lakes show similarities like
temperatue (26-32 0C), pH (7.5-7.8), DO (2.5-3.9mg/l), etc. Because of the many similarities, the
ichthyofaunal diversity is found to be similar with a few exceptions. The seedlings of commercially important
fishes like Catla and Labeo are introduced by the fisheries society. Most of the fishes are common to both
lakes with some exceptions like Etroplus suratensis, Channa striatus and Rhinomugil corsula which are are
found only in Wyra Lake. Etroplus suratensis, a shoaling fish, is very common in the estuaries and thrives
well where luxuriant growth of aquatic vegetation is available. Dense vegetation, many water plants,
hiding places and open swimming areas are suitable for this species in Wyra
Lake. Another fish which is
reported only in Wyra Lake, Rhinomugil corsula which
thrives well in estuarine waters, is also reported from the Krishna River
basin. The mixing of waters of the
Krishna-Godavari river basins explains the occurrence of Rhinomugil corsula in Wyra. Whereas,
one specimen of Ompok bimaculatus was reported in Pocharam
Lake. This is generally not
cultured in lakes but might have made its entry through the Godavari River
system. Some of the riverine
fishes such as Sperata seenghala, Wallago attu and Rhinomugil corsula are found to be inhabiting lentic waters such as lakes and reservoirs,
so the maintenance of healthy environment of lentic waters helps in the
conservation of some riverine fishes. In recent times, fishes, especially freshwater fishes of the Indian
region, are being threatened due to loss of habitat, as rivers are being dammed
or diverted and wetlands are cleared for agriculture and for other
purposes. Deleterious effects also
result from over fishing, catching of breeding fish and fry, pollution of
rivers and streams. Protection and conservation
of lakes helps in maintaining the freshwater ichthyofaunal diversity to some
extent.
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