| dc.description | Bangladesh is blessed with several rivers, cannels and tributaries that are currently
serving as open water inland fisheries resources. In particular, the country has extensive
and highly diverse fisheries resources. It has 2.30 million hectare coastal water and 720
kilometer coastline along the Bay of Bengal which supports a large fisheries production.
Inland water bodies of the country includes thousands of rivers, beels, estuaries, brakish
waters, natural depressions and mangroves which cover in total 39,01,900 hectare
including inland closed water bodies of 7,83,000 hectare and open water bodies of
39,20,000 hectare. These extensive inland and marine waterbodies are highly important
habitats for fisheries resources in Bangladesh.
The Dhepa River is a tributary and originated from the River Atrai at Mohanpur and falls
to the Punarbhaba River in Bangladesh. This river is located at the northern part in
Bangladesh. It runs about 40 kilometers in length and about 6 meters in depth. The river
supports a large biodiversity of aquatic organisms like fish, mollusk, phytoplankton,
zooplankton, aquatic birds, amphibians, reptiles etc. The Dhepa river is an important
fisheries habitat and well-known to Dinajpur district in Bangladesh in terms of fish
production and source of income for many fishermen living beside. Along with other
freshwater fish, few small indigenous fish species (SIS) such as mola
(Amblypharyngodon mola), chela (Salmophasia bacaila) chapila (Gudusia chapra), bata
(Labeo bata), darkina (Esomus danricus) are commonly found in the Dhepa river
(Hossain and Afroze 1991). | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | The present study was investigated on environmental variability and gut contents of the
chela fish (Salmophasia bacaila) from the Dhepa River in Bangladesh. Monthly sampling
of fish and water quality parameters were performed at three different sites of Dhepa River
from September 2017 to February 2018. It was found through PERMANOVA analysis that
water temperature, dissolved oxygen and pH varied significantly among the months
(PERMANOVA, P = 0.001). Water transparency showed spatio-temporal variation among
the months and sites (PERMANOVA, P = 0.001) in the Dhepa River during the study
period. Prey analysis determined 13 prey types from the gut contents of the chela fish. The
prey species found in fish stomachs were highly dominated by phytoplankton (92.9%),
while zooplankton contributed only 7.1% to the diets of chela. About 20 genera of
phytoplankton and 7 genera of zooplankton were recorded from the gut of chela fish.
PERMANOVA analysis showed a significant temporal (monthly) variation in the prey
diversity of chela fish (PERMANOVA, P = 0.01). Overall, the results indicate that chela
fish are predominantly plankton feeder. Changes in prey diversity can be predominantly
influenced by the variation in abundance and distribution of preys that are likely regulated
by the environmental factors in the Dhepa River. This study improves our understanding on
the dynamics of key environmental drivers and prey selection of chela fish from a riverine
system. | en_US |
