Freshwater fish fauna of the Ashambu Hills landscape, southern Western Ghats, India, with notes on some range extensions

Main Article Content

R.K. Abraham
N. Kelkar
A.B. Kumar

Abstract

A systematic, updated checklist of freshwater fish species of the west-flowing drainages of the Ashambu (Agasthyamala) Hills landscape in the southern Western Ghats of Kerala, India is provided, with notes on occurrence, status and ecology of endemic and threatened species. The checklist incorporates information from a review of taxonomic, exploratory and ecological literature concerning the area. A total of 103 species have been reported from the landscape, with 25 endemic to the Western Ghats. Range extension of four species, viz. Garra mcclellandi, G. hughi, Hypselobarbus jerdoni and Puntius mahecola is reported from the Ashambu Hills landscape.

Article Details

Section
Communications
Author Biographies

R.K. Abraham

Robin Kurian Abraham is a conservation ecologist with a keen interest in freshwater ecology and biogeography, animal behavior and conservation. He has been involved in the study of river ecosystems of the southern Western Ghats for almost seven years now.

N. Kelkar

Nachiket Kelkar is a wildlife biologist and has studied river dolphins, green turtles and community ecology of fishes in freshwaters, estuaries, coral reefs and seagrass meadows. His main interests are in population ecology and statistical modeling.

A.B. Kumar

Dr. A. Biju Kumar is a senior lecturer at department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, University of Kerala. His areas of specializations include biodiversity informatics, and taxonomy and ecology of aquatic life. He has authored 18 books, more than 50 research papers and over 200 popular articles.