Freshwater fish fauna of Koyna River, northern Western Ghats, India

We studied the freshwater fish fauna of Koyna River for a period of two years from May 2007 to April 2009. We recorded 58 species belonging to 16 families and 35 genera. Eleven out of the 22 fish species endemic to the Western Ghats are restricted to the Krishna River system. Eight endemic fish species are known to be threatened because of various anthropogenic activities. Since the fish fauna of Koyna is relatively less threatened by anthropogenic stressors with currently no record of alien fish species, we propose that Koyna River can be considered as a refuge for conservation of some endemic and threatened freshwater fishes of the Western Ghats. Nevertheless, efforts to maintain low anthropogenic interference and avoiding introduction of alien species are central to our proposal