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| Sampling locations at Chembarampakkam lake |
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| A pool habitat |
Recently I had undergone a basic fish systematic and field sampling techniques training which was informally organized by Care Earth, an environmental NGO and the Southern Regional Zoological Survey of India, Chennai. This training made me to get familiarized with identification of freshwater fishes of this region. Marcus Knight, a friend who has been working on the freshwater fishes of Chennai city for the past two years. He taught me how to catch fishes by using mosquito net and homemade scoop net in the small channels of Chambarabakkam Lake, situated in the southern part of Chennai city. Our first little sampling effort yielded a remarkable catch. We transferred these fishes to a bucket of water subsequently to identify each of them and release back to the water. At the end of the week we counted twenty four species. During this field visit I learned that by mere observation one can easily distinguish males and females of some of the fish species, rather than one having to dissect the fish. For instance, Orange chromide (Etroplus maculatus) males are smaller and yellowish in color than females which are duller in color.
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| Red chromid (Etroplus maculatus) |
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| Golden barb (Puntius gelius) |
Marcus has reported Puntius gelius, a small barb from this locality. It is a colorful fish that grows up to 5cm. This would be a new range extension for the species from south India. I feel, this is great finding from a Metropolitan city but, unfortunately we do not hear much about this. Why has this not been an interesting story and not known to many of us? Are we paying too much attention to only charismatic animals and neglecting lesser yet beautiful animal life?
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| Proeutroiicthys taakree taakree |
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| Pool barb (Puntius sophore) |
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| Spotted snakehead (Channa punctatus) |
Finding this fish suggests that despites tumultuous changes in our landscape, such species seems to have adapted to the seasonal changes. It would be interesting to know the detailed ecology of this species and estimate current threats to it if any. Due to inaccessible terrain and ad-hoc nature of record keeping we are still unsure about how many more species are yet to be discovered or rediscovered to science from our country. The pace of ecological research in our science colleges and universities has been slower could be due to lack of funds and the right motivation. If we want to make a comprehensive inventory, then colleges and universities in India should pay little more attention towards ecological research and encourage students to explore the incredible mega biodiversity of the country. Such inventories should not aim to generate a mere list of plants or animals but it should encompass its pattern of distribution within a landscape along with its current status. For instance, monitoring a small patch of forest or segment of a stream or recording butterflies over long period by college or university students would result in interesting outcomes.
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| Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambica) |
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| Asian knife fish (Notopterus notopterus) |
We know that many species interact more closely with local environments rather than regional. For instance, many species of frogs and lizards are known to prefer rocks and wood debris. Noting down the habitat requirement (temperature, dimension of wood debris or rock etc) on daily basis by college students will not only build a qualitative data set but also will give further insight to students to carry on such activities in their campuses thus being more involved with the nature rather than attending formal Earth Day or Wildlife Weeks.
At this juncture, networking between such institutions is crucial for future research and the shared ecological information should be made available for interested research groups. Given a chance and direction I think many of us would surely reinvent the wheel like Carl Linnaeus in the species discovery expedition and celebrate the Year of Biodiversity in real sense!
