Collection and Study of Fish Fauna of the Punjab

Abstract

Work on the research project titled “Collection and study of fish fauna of the Punjab” was initiated in 1976 under a research grant sanctioned by the Pakistan Science Foundation. The principal purpose of this research was to collect and identify the fishes of the Punjab and to have the collected specimens in the Museum’s cellars of the Zoology Department for reference by future workers for confirming their identification. Further, this study also purported to record the morphometric data in respect of each of the fish species collected from various waterbodies in Punjab Province and to subject the taxonomic characters to numerical treatment with a view to assessing the soundness of the existing classificatory system at the specific level. The morphometric measurement, in respect of 27 parameters of the fish body have been induced under each species and these, being quite stable and permanent for a species, are being proposed for the first time as useful taxonomic characters. Tables of comparison of characters have been prepared to compute percentage similarity among various species of each genus and, therefrom, phenograms have been constructed to show e level of morphological relationship Amon them. The present work has confirmed the status of various species taxa established by previous taxonomists. However, the desirability of splitting the genus Labeo into wo subgenera has been indicated.