Distribution and abundance of fish populations in Harike wetland--a Ramsar site in India.

Harike wetland was declared a Ramsar site in 1990. It is located at the confluence of two major rivers of Indus rivers system, the Beas and the Sutlej, but was never explored extensively for its existing fish biodiversity. Earlier only 27 fish species of commercial value were reported from the wetland. Acknowledging its importance for rich diversity fish assemblages in seven different reaches of Harike wetland were studied to determine their abundance and distribution. 61 fish species of 35 genera were recorded from Harike wetland during the present study. Cirrihinus mrigala and Cyprinus carpio belonging to family Cyprinidae were the dominant fish species. Lake and Riyasat having many microhabitats supported highest diversity of fishes (60 and 56 respectively) followed by Beas (20) Sutlej (14), Confluence (12), Reservoir (9) and Downstream (8). Among the IUCN designated threatened species, 1 Critically Endangered, 4 Endangered and 13 Vulnerable fish species of India are found in Harike wetland. Species diversity index, dominance, evenness and catch per unit effort were calculated to ascertain the fish distribution in Harike wetland.