Diversity of Small Indigenous Freshwater Ornamental Fish under Genus Puntius from Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur and Jhargram Districts of West Bengal, India

The main objective of the present study is the investigation of small indigenous freshwater ornamental fish diversity of Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur and Jhargram districts of West Bengal, India and emphasis has been given to their ornamental value and local abundance. Present study is restricted only on the fish species belonging to the genus Puntius. During the study, small freshwater fish species has been surveyed covering all blocks of the three districts under study. Specimens have been collected from different freshwater ecosystems like rivers, ponds, beels etc. and are preserved and identified. It has been observed that the study area represents the existence of nine species of indigenous freshwater small fishes under genus Puntius. Among the recorded nine species, two species, namely Puntius guganio (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822) and Puntius gelius (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822) are being found for the first time from the study site. All the nine species are potential to be regarded as ornamental fish. A detail distributional data has been provided for all the species of the genus from the study area. Therefore, present study will highlight the local macro-faunal diversity of the freshwater fish species under genus Puntius as well as ability to become ornamental fish for aquarium keeping. Record of two small fish species from the freshwater ecosystem of the study area is the new addition to the local fish faunal diversity.


Introduction
The genus Puntius Hamilton-Buchanan (1822) is a large group of small fishes. It is a complex genus, which exhibit high degree of variability in colour pattern, size and habitat such as ditches, pond, rivers and hill stream. The status of Puntius is controversial; the delimitation and nomenclature validity of the genus have remained unsettled (Hora & Mukerjii, 1934;Smith, 1945;Mayers, 1960). The genus Puntius has long been recognized as a "catchall" genus for a variety of small tropical Asian cyprinids whose inter-relationships (Kottelat, 1999). They have a good food and ornamental value due to presence of definite amount of carbohydrate, protein, minerals, etc., and different color, spot, band and behavior are attracted aquarist.

Methods
The specimens were collected from different rivers, ponds, beels, markets of different blocks of Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur and Jhargram district of West Bengalfrom July 2019 to January 2020. After collection, the specimens have immediately preserved by 4% formaldehyde and brought to laboratory of the department of Zoology (UG & PG) of Raja N. L. Khan Women's College (Autonomous). Finally, specimens were washed and preserved 6% formaldehyde in a labelling container. The specimens were studied morphologically such as size, color, band, fin number, fin shape, fin rays, scale number etc. All measurement of fish was made in metric system followed by Talwar and Jhingran, (1991) ;Jayaram, (1999), Jayagram, (2010) & www. Fishbase.org. Distribution of the species has been recorded ( Table-1).

Genus Puntius Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822
Hamilton (1822) created the genus based on the Cyprinus sophore as type species for the genus. 57 species of Genus Puntius have been found in the world and 35 species were found in India. A brief history of the genus with special reference to Indian contribution has been given below. 1999

Diagnosis of the Genus:
Body is short, deep & compressed. Head short and abdomen rounded. Mouth is anterior or inferior. Upper jaw sometime protractile, lips are thin. Jaw without any knob at the symphysis. Barbells when present are four or two in number. Dorsal fin inserted nearly opposite of pelvic fin with 9-13 rays. Caudal fin forked. Lateral line complete or incomplete with 20-47 scales.

Species 1: Puntius chola (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822)
Puntius chola was originally described as Cyprinus chola (Hamilton-  Diagnosis of Species (Fig-1): Body deep and compressed. The head is small, and narrower than the body. At each corner of the mouth is a tendril. The mouth is small, and descends obliquely. Maxillary barbells are one pair. Lateral line is complete with a slight curve from the shoulder with 24-28 scales, Pre-dorsal scales 10 to 12, circumpeduncular scales 14, pre-pelvic scales 11, pre-anal scales 19; total length: 5-12cm.
Ornamental Value: P. chola can be considered as ornamental fish because of its silvery body color with a large black blotch at the base of caudal peduncle; another black blotch at the base of dorsal fin, operculum with a golden to reddish golden spot and some specimen possess a light red mark started behind from operculum to caudal peduncle which makes the fish more attractive and popular.  Diagnosis of Species (Fig-2): Body deep and compressed, its depth 2.2 to 2.5 times in standard length. Head is 4.1 to 4.5 times in standard length. Mouth is moderate; no barbless. Dorsal fin inserted equidistant between tip of snout and base of caudal fin; its last unbranched ray osseous, moderately strong and serrated. Scales medium; lateral line incomplete, ceases after 10 th to 13 th scales, 24 to 26 sc ales in longitudinal series, total length: 5.5-9cm.   (Fig-3):

Diagnosis of Species
Mouth is small and terminal, barbells are absent. Dorsal fin inserted slightly posterior to the origin of pelvic fin. Lateral line generally incomplete with 23-25 scales in longitudinal series. A long transverse blotch is present in the above of pectoral fin and second blotch present in the above of anal fin end; total length: 5-6cm.
Ornamental Value: P. ticto possess translucent shining silvery to greenish-gray body, a small black humeral spot present in the above of pectoral fin and second one present with anterior golden edged in the above of anal fin end, can made the fish very popular in aquarium.

Species 4: Puntius terio (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822)
Puntius terio was originally described as Cyprinus terio (Hamilton- (Fig-4): Body elongate, deep and compressed. Body depth is 2.4 times in standard length. Head length is 3.3-3.8 times in standard length. Eye diameter is 2.75-3 times of head length. Barbells are absent. Lateral line incomplete with 22-23 scales in longitudinal series. Over anal fin a large blotch present. Dorsal fin has numerous dark spots and streaks. Body color in dorsal side is metallic green and in ventral side is whitish with light reddish, total length: 5-8cm.
Ornamental Value: P. terio has greenish-silvery body with a large round golden-edged black blotch over anal fin, dorsal fin sometimes with dark spot, has considered the fish as ornamental.

Diagnosis of Species (Fig-5):
Elongate body moderately compressed. Mouth small, slightly oblique with no barbells and upper jaw slightly longer. Last unbranched ray of dorsal fin is osseous and serrated. Dorsal fin originates nearer to snout tip than the caudal base. Pelvic fine originate below that of dorsal and pectoral as long as head excluding snout. Scales are fairly small and lateral line incomplete, total length: 2.5-4cm.
Fin formula: D ii-iii 8; P i 14; V i 8; A iii 5 Ornamental Value: P. gelius can be considered as ornamental fish because of its body color which appears as golden along with a dark band over the tail anterior to the caudal fin another dark band present at the caudal peduncle, dorsal fin yellowish with a black spot at the base.
Fin formula: D iii 8; P i 10; V i 8; A ii 5 Ornamental Value: P. guganio has transparent body, along with silver band starting behind the operculum which has extended to the base of caudal fin, a black blotch present at the base of caudal fin another one present at the base of dorsal fin which is extended as a black stripe at the frontal part of dorsal fin; made the fish very attractive; so it can be kept as ornamental fish.

Species 7: Puntius phutunio (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822)
Puntius phutunio was originally described as Cyprinus phutunio (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822) from north-east Bengal, India. A brief history of the species with special reference to Indian contributions has been given below.

Type locality: Ponds of north-east Bengal
Diagnosis of Species (Fig-7): Body somewhat deep, eyes large, mouth small, no barbells. Scale large, lateral line incomplete, 18 to 24 scales in longitudinal series. Presence of three black blotches, one is behind gill-cover, second above anal fin and third as a spot on caudal peduncle, total length: 2.5-4cm. Ornamental Value: Puntius phutunio possess silvery body along with 2 black stripes appear vertically up its body which consider as ornamentally valuable. The black band is also variable number and positioning of dependent on geographical areas. Their colorful body and peaceful and interest behavior make a welcome addiction any larger community aquarium.
Fin formula: D iii-iv 8; A iii 5; P i 14-17; v i 8 Ornamental Value: The body color of Puntius sarana is olive-green to silvery with its active nature can made the species highly valuable as ornamental fish.

Species 9: Puntius sophore (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822)
Puntius sophore was originally described as Cyprinus sophore (Hamilton- (Fig-9): Body deep and moderately compressed. Dorsal portion is more convex than ventral portion. Mouth is small and terminal. Upper jaw is slightly longer than lower jaw. Barbells are absent. Pelvic fin originated behind the origin of dorsal fin. Lateral line complete with 22-27 scales, total length: 7-13cm.
Ornamental Value: It can consider as ornamental fish due to silvery-golden body color along with a reddish orange bands appear on the lateral side of the body. Besides these two black spots one on caudal peduncle another on the base of dorsal fin. The orange color on anal and pelvic fin and orange spot on operculum makes it really attractive and popular.

Discussion
Study on the distribution of fishes in particular biosphere is very important to understand the ecological significance of the species. Many factors such as altitude, water temperature, habitat type, food availability, predator and ecological barrier etc. are the determining factors for distribution of species in aqua-habitats. During the study period, we identified 9 species of the genus Puntius such as Puntius chola (Hamilton- (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822) is so far regarded as not evaluated and the remaining seven species are least concern. Present study reveals that Puntius chola (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822) and Puntius sophore (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822) shows high abundance in the study area. Puntius terio (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822), Puntius gelius (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822), Puntius guganio (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822) and Puntius sarana (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822) shows very low abundance and needed immediate conservation or these species will be locally extinct. Therefore, present study will certainly be a land mark for future researchers and policy planners to study on the group from the study area.