ON A COLLECTION OF FISHES FROM HINDON RIVER, DISTRICT SAHARANPUR (UTTAR PRADESH)

The fish fauna of district Saharanpur has been found to be taxonomically interesting by Tilak and Husain (1975, 1977, 1980, 1981) who described new taxa, discovered the distribution of eastern Indian forms in the streams of this area and confirmed the taxonomic validity of some specimens based on the collection from this district. The fish fauna of this district has earlier been studied by Day (1875-78), Falconer (1868), Myers (1960) etc. The above mentioned workers studied the fish fauna of this district with great enthusiasm because of the interesting topographical features of the region comprising montane, submontane and plain areas which depict ecologically different terrains harbouring specialised fish fauna. It should, therefore, be taxonomically and zoogeographically interesting to study the various ichthyo-faunal elements of different ecological niches available in the district. In order to achieve this end, a systematic study of the fish fauna of various waterways traversing through montane, submontane and plain areas have been envisaged so that a thorough ecological inter-relationships between the main faunal elements of fish from different ecologically specialised areas can be attempted. In this context, therefore, the results of the study of fish collected from Hindon riever from montane, submontane and plain areas and presented in this paper. A study of the fish fauna of Hindon river in the extreme southern part which is completely plain has been done by Sinha and Shiromani (1953) and Mahajan (1966).


INTRODUCTION
The fish fauna of district Saharanpur has been found to be taxonomically interesting by Tilak and Husain (1975, 1977, 1980, 1981) who described new taxa, discovered the distribution of eastern Indian forms in the streams of this area and confirmed the taxonomic validity of some specimens based on the collection from this district.The fish fauna of this district has earlier been studied by Day (1875-78), Falconer (1868), Myers (1960) etc.The above mentioned workers studied the fish fauna of this district with great enthusiasm because of the interesting topographical features of the region comprising montane, submontane and plain areas which depict ecologically different terrains harbouring specialised fish fauna.It should, therefore, be taxonomically and zoogeographically interesting to study the various ichthyo-faunal elements of different ecological niches available in the district.In order to achieve this end, a systematic study of the fish fauna of various waterways traversing through montane, submontane and plain areas have been envisaged so that a thorough ecological inter-relationships between the main faunal elements of fish from different ecologically specialised areas can be attempted.In this context, therefore, the results of the study of fish collected from Hindon riever from montane, submontane and plain areas and presented in this paper.A study of the fish fauna of Hindon river in the extreme southern part which is completely plain has been done by Sinha and Shiromani (1953) and Mahajan (1966).

THE HINDON RIVER
The Hindon river begins as a small stream from Siwalik in the north of Muzaffarabad pargana in Saharanpur district.Kaluwal Rau and Chahchani streams also merge with Hindon river in pargana Haraura.Then it folws across that pargana to the western border, enters NagaI aod passes south through pargana Deoband into district Muzaffamagar.In the montane region, the river flows through large and medium sized boulders with a swift current.Te river flows through the fields in the submontane region.In this region, the river has muddly bottom.In the plains, the river flows on a stretch of light sandy soil.Several seasonal rivers such as Nagdeo, Paondhoe and Dhamola also merge with Hindon in this district.

SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT
The fishes from river Hindon have been collected from the montane and submontane regions falling in Siwaliks and the plain areas in district Saharanpur for three years during all the seasons.As far as possible, the collection was made from all different ecological niches in the river i.e. understones, pools, by the side of the running streams, areas overgrown with vegetation, muddy and sandy bed etc.The specimens have been thoroughly examined and identified.The list of the fish fauna collected and studied is given below in a systematic order.

Super-order OSTARIOPHYSI
Order CYPRINIFORMES

REMARKS
Among the species recorded from this river, there is only one species Le.Glyptolhorax pectinoplerus (McClelland) whch is restricted to the montanus •part of the river because it needs strong flow of water and rocky bottom to adhere to and feed on the algae and insects entangled in them.This species is rarely recorded in submontane region unless it gets incidentely washed down due to floods.This represents 2.22% of the fish fauna of this river recorded here.In the submontane region, there are quite a number of species such as Barilius barila Hamilton, Barilius benJelisis Hamilton, Barilius vagra Hamilton, Garra gotyla (Gray) etc. which live both in the lower reaches of the hilly tract on the one side and on higher side of the plain region; they however mostly inhabit the submontane terrain where the flow of water is comparatively fast and the bed is stony or pebbly.They do not normally extend to te region with a muddy or clayee water.The species of the submontane region enumerated above represent 8.890/0 of the fish fauna of the river recorded here.The rest of the species mostly live in the plain area where the flow of water is slow, the stream is infested with aquatic vegetation and the bed is muddy.These species sometimes extend into the lower reaches of the submontane part of the stream.These species represent 88.91 % of the total fauna recorded from the stream.NormalI'y the species of the three ecological regions viz.montane, submontane and plain areas remain restricted to their respective habitats, but under exceptional circumstances particularly during floods or during breeding season, some of them do enter into the adjoining ecological areas.This ecological distribution of the species in a stream showing all the three types of ecological niches is no,mall y of a fixed nature and changes only under exceptional circumstances.This affords an ecological distinction to the fauna of the respective ecological niches in the stream.12. Barbels present ...... 0 Depth of body three or more times in total length ..
29. Occipital process 1.5 to 2.0 times as long as wide at the base; body without longitudinal stripes.0 Occipital process 3 to 5 times as long as wide at the base; body with longitudinal stripes ........ 0 0 .0 0 .0 30.Lower surface of the head and body flat; paired fins horizontal............. .32. Eyes with a free orbital margin and lie above the level of corner of mouth and not visible from underside of head; gape of mouth oblique, wide and very long reaching to or beyond anterior border of eye; pectoral not reaching beyond origin of anaL ............... Wallago attu (Schneider) Eyes sub-cutaneous; lie posterior to corner mouth and visible from underside of head; pectoral usually swpassing the origin of anal .......... .SUMMARY Hindon river at montane, submontane and the plain areas of Saharanpur district has been surveyed for three years covering all seasons.Altogether 45 species have been collected from the ri ver and have been studied, identified and listed in the paper.The analysis of species occurring in different zones has also been given.A key to the identification of the species is provided.