The dam was an ideal habitation to various types of fish species including ornamental fishes
Karimnagar: A zoology lecturer of Jammikunta Government Degree College has found a rare fish species at Lower Manair Dam on the outskirts of Karimnagar city.
After carrying out a minor research project on biodiversity for a year, Dr. Karri Rama Rao identified the existence of Awaous grammepomus, also known as Scribbled goby, besides recording 20 more species than that found at the dam by the students of Kakatiya University in 2013.
Mr. Rao said that he identified Scribbled goby, a rarest fish species found only in Goa and Chennai, at the dam during his research. The rare species is listed in the red species published by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), while studying fish population at the dam.
He embarked on the research programme following a sponsorship from the University Grants Commission (UGC) from June, 2013 to May, 2014. He will submit his findings to the UGC’s sub-regional office in Hyderabad on November 17.
He claimed that his study revealed that the occurrence of 64 fish belonging to eight orders, 19 families and 39 genera in the dam waters.
He said that the dam was an ideal habitation to various types of fish species including ornamental fishes, usually found in aquariums. A total of 44 fish species were identified in a study conducted by Kakatiya University in 2013.
The study was carried out to determine the larvivorous activity of fishes found at LMD and to identify the potential fish species for consuming larval forms.
Initially, he identified 58 larvivorous potential fish species at the dam based on their morphometric and meristimatic characters. These findings were published in the journal of Pelagia Research Library Advances in Applied Science Research, 2014.
Similarly, he recorded the presence of 53 species of ornamental fish at the reservoir. The fishes belong to eight orders, out of which, cypriniformes is dominant with 23 species. This finding was also carried in the journal of the International Organisation of Scientific Research (IOSR) Journal of Pharmacy and Biological Sciences.
Hailing from Gajuvaka in Vishakapatnam, this post-doctoral fellowship holder was appointed as the lecturer at Jammikunta in 2011.
He pursued Ph. D (Fisheries) from Andhra University in 1997. The dam was constructed across Manair river, a tributary of river Godavari.
