Habitat preference of freshwater fishes along Gamri River

Distribution of fishes is influenced by various factors like volume discharge, elevation, trophic productivity, temperature and habitat use. The fish diversity and its distribution in relation to habitat type occupancy for pre-monsoon and post-monsoon season were assessed along Gamri River. The river was divided into three functional zones (chirpine, settlement and broadleaved). Sampling stretch of 100 m was chosen to encompass riffles, runs and pools types of habitat. To catch fish various types of available and appropriate fishing gears were used. The total of eight species belonging to eight genera under four families and two orders were encountered. One species belonged to Near Threatened (NT) and another belonged to Vulnerable (VU), while three others belonged to Least Concern (LC) and two other species were Not Evaluated (NE). The maximum species belonged to order Cypriniformes followed by order Siluriformes. The relative abundance of fishes was highest in pool habitat (41.2%) with the mean rank of 196.92. The total number of fishes encountered was highest during post-monsoon with score 964 counts.