Habitat Ecology and Shellfish Diversity of River Burhi Gandak, North Bihar, India
Habitat Ecology and Shellfish Diversity of River Burhi Gandak, North Bihar, India
Sanjay Chandravanshi1*, H.S. Mogalekar2, Omkar Sahu2, C. Sudhan3,
Roshan Kumar Ram2 and Shivendra Kumar2
ABSTRACT
The present study was conducted to investigate the distribution and abundance of shellfish fauna from the river Burhi Gadak in North Bihar, India. The hydro-morphology of the river were studied and revealed that river width varied from 87.34±10.17 to 102.77±11.58 m and maximum river width was recorded in August 2020. The maximum depth was observed between 8.62±0.99 to 13.55±1.21 m and maximum depth was observed in August 2020 and minimum depth ranged from 6.44±0.80 to 9.92±1.06 m and minimum depth was found in June 2021. The maximum water flows varied between 0.55±0.11 to 0.74±0.11m/s and the minimum flow rate was recorded in August 2020 and minimum water flow ranged from 0.40±0.07 to 0.47±0.06 m/s and low water flow was recorded in June 2021. The investigation recorded a total of 12 shellfish species under 4 orders, 9 families and 10 genera. Identified shellfishes comprised of 5 species of crustaceans (3 species of freshwater prawns and 2 species of crab under 2 orders, 2 families and 3 genera) and 7 species of molluscs (5 species of snails and 2 species of mussels under 2 orders, 7 families and 6 genera). The highest species abundance was observed at Muzaffarpur sampling site having Palaemonidaeas the predominant family with 3 species. The Shanon-Wiener diversity index, Pielou’s evenness index and Margalef’s species richness index ranged from 2.30 to 2.50, 0.90 to 1.0, 2.0 to 2.30, respectively.
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