Archives

The present study was conducted to generate a primary database on ichthyofauna diversity of river
Torsa flowing through Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, India. Initial base level study for two
years led to an identification of 107 indigenous fish species belonging to 30 families. The family
Cyprinidae represented the highest diversity accommodating 16 genera and 32 species. Amongst all
the species 33% possess high ornamental value , 40% have only food value and 27% , in spite of
being potentially ornamental, used commonly as food fish. Such categorization in diversity reveals
the dominance of food fish over ornamental fish. So far as the study on conservation status is
concerned, according to CAMP (1998) and IUCN (2010), 107 fish species were enlisted under seven
different categories demonstrating 1no. (0.93%) species as Critically Endangered, 9 (8.37%) species
as Endangered, 16 (14.88%) species as Vulnerable, 14 (13.02%) species as at Lower Risk Near
Threatened, 58 (53.94%) species as Lower Risk Least Concerned, 7 (6.51%) species as Data
Deficient and 2 (1.86%) species as Not Evaluated status and the status clearly indicates a stress on
fish diversity. In response to the outcome, it can be interpreted that anthropogenic pressure arising
out of agriculture run offs, heavy pollution of water resources, indiscriminate fishing with harmful
fishing technologies and widespread habitation of people are contributing much to such alarming
vulnerability of the rich fish diversity in their natural habitat.
Key words: Ichthyofauna diversity, Torsa river, Cooch Behar, ornamental fish, food fish, Conservation status