Water-Quality analysis and Fish diversity of Southern West Part of the West-Bengal

Abstract

Marine fishes are one of the important factors to stabilize the local aquatic ecosystem and regulating socio-economy of local fishermen. In this study we emphasized upon finding out the interrelationship in the water quality, anthropogenic activity, and fish habitat through the 31km stretch of East Medinipur coast in West Bengal, India which is known for its tourist destinations. The study was conducted monthly on different trawler fish landing sites from Dec 2018 to Dec 2021. During this period, we took fish samples and identified them. We took water quality data such as SST, Concentration of Chl-a, Turbidity, and DO for further correlation between the water quality and species diversity. Total 154 numbers of commercially important marine fish species were documented. Among them, 12 species are from Elasmobranch and the rest is Actinopterygii. As per the IUCN database, 13% of the total fish species are under the red list category and 16% of the species showing decreasing population trend. After analyzing the water quality data, we found out that DO, SST, Turbidity, and Chlorophyll-A correlate with the species richness and it also differs during the seasons.