Ichthyofaunal Diversity and Their Conservation Status in River Kuwano, Flowing through District Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh, India

The present study was carried out to know the Ichthyofaunal diversity and their conservation status in the river Kuwano, flowing through Balrampur district of Uttar Pradesh. The systematic survey of five sampling sites of the river was conducted once in a month for a period of one year from February 2024 to January 2025. The result of this study revealed the occurrence of 58 species belonging to 36 genera, 20 families and 8 orders. The order Cypriniformes was found as dominated order with 24 species (41.38%) followed by Siluriformes 16 species (27.59%), Perciformes 7 species (12.07%), Ophiocephaliformes 4 species (6.90%), Mastacembeliformes 3 species (5.17%), Osteoglossiformes 2 species (3.45%), Clupeiformes 1 species (1.72%) and Beloniformes with 1species (1.72%). According to IUCN red list most of the species (51) are under least concern (LC), while 5 species including Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Notopterus chitala, Ompak bimaculatus, Ompak pabda and Ailia coila are in near threatened (NT) category and the remaining 2 species Wallago attu and Bagarius bagarius are reported as vulnerable (VU) category. The river Kuwano and its fauna are under severe ecological degradation due to anthropogenic activities, overfishing, illegal fishing approaches, aquatic pollution, siltation, introduction of exotic species of fishes and alien plant species. Thus, there is an urgent need to taking up steps to maintain this valuable river and to conserve the aquatic fauna and flora. The present study will provide base line data and may contribute as skeletal information for future studies of this river ecosystem. Author strongly recommends practical conservation action plan to prevent the Ichthyofauna from extinction.