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\ MISCELLANEOUS NOTES Fig. 1: Male and female specimens ofHoplobatrachus crassus (Jerdon 1853) ofarm 1.7-3.8, Tympanum 0.35-0.7, Length of Acknowledgement hand 0.83-1.6, 1st finger 0.5-0.8, second finger We thank the G.B. Pant Institute of 0.4-0.7, 3rd finger 0.6-1.1, 4th finger 0.3-0.6, Himalayan Environment and Development, Lengthofleg 5.5-11.0, LengthofTibia 1.8-3.0, Almora for financial support. Length ofFoot 0.85-3.6, 1st Toe 0.25-0.5, 2nd Toe0.4-0.7, 3rdToe0.65-1.1,4thToe0.95-2.3, June22, 1998 S. C. BORDOLOI Fifth Toe 0.7-1.1. Tibiotarsal articulation MOHINI MOHAN BORA reaches tympanum. Ecological Laboratory H. crassus shares a common habitat with Department ofZoology, Cotton College, H. tigerinus (Daudin 1803). Guwahati-781 001., Assam. 23. DISTRIBUTION OF FISH IN THE MANJESWARAM RIVER, KASARAGOD(KERALA) Distribution of freshwater fishes of Biosphere Reserve. However, there has been no northern Kerala, north ofthe Palghat Gap, was record of the fish fauna of the rivers flowing studied by various workers in the past (Rajan through Kasaragod dist., Kerala. 1955,Mukerji 1931,RemaDeviandlndra 1986). TheManjeswaramriver,oneofthesmaller Recently Shaji and Easa (1997) reported on the rivers in Kerala, was surveyed during October- m hill streamfishes ofthe KeralaportionofNilgiri November 1997. This river originates at 60 JOURNAL BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORYSOCIETY. 96(1), APR. 1999 159 , 1 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES above msl, fromthe shrub-coveredhills situated FAMILY CICHLIDAE at the northern border ofKerala, in Kasaragod 15. Etroplus maculatus (Bloch) dist. This river has a length of 16 km and a 16. E. suratensis (Bloch) catchment area of 90 sq. km, width of about 17. Oreochromis mossambica (Peters) m 10-50 and depth. 2-9 m. The bottom is sandy FAMILY MUGILIDAE or muddy in most parts. 18. Mugil cephalus Linn. Collections weremade, using castnet, gill net and scoop net ofvarying mesh size. A total FAMILY GOBIDAE of 20 species representing 1 1 families were 19. Glossogobius giuris (Ham.-Buch.) collected, as listed below: FAMILY BELONTIDAE FAMILY ANGUILLIDAE Subfamily - Macropodinae 20. Macropodus cupanus (Val.) 1.Anguillabengalensisbengalensis(Gray) FAMILY CYPRINIDAE Freshwater fish are a small part of the Subfamily - Cyprininae biodiversityinthesmallriversofKasaragoddist., 2. Puntius amphibius (Val.) comparedto otherrivers inKerala. This maybe 3. P.filamentosus (Val.) because of few habitat types in this river. The 4. P. vittatus Day chief substratum in most parts of this river is Subfamily - Rasborinae sand and mud. Hence Puntius amphibius, 5. Danio aequipinnatus (McClelland) Parluciosoma daniconius, Danio malabaricus, 6. D. malabaricus (Jerdon) AplocheiluslineatusandGlossogobiusgiurisare 7. Parluciosomadaniconius(Ham.-Buch.) the most abundant and uniformly distributed Subfamily - Garrinae fishes in this river. 8. Garra mullya (Sykes) Marine species like Therapon jarbua, Gerres lucidus and Mugil cephalus were FAMILY BAGRIDAE collected in large numbers fromthe rivermouth 9. Mystus gulio (Ham.-Buch.) andalso afewkilometres away fromthe sea. 10. M. armatus (Day) A total of 20 species belonging to 1 FAMILY BELONIDAE families were collected from this river, most of 11. Xenentodon cancila (Ham.-Buch.) which are widelydistributed throughout Kerala. FAMILY APLOCHEILIDAE January 13, 1998 BIJU, C.R. 12. Aplocheilus lineatus (Val.) RAJU THOMAS, K. FAMILY THERAPONIDAE AJITHKUMAR, C.R. 13. Theraponjarbua (Forskal) Bombay Natural History Society, HornbillHouse, Dr. Salim Ali Chowk, FAMILY GERREIDAE Shaheed Bhagat Singh Road, 14. Gerres lucidus (Cuvier) Mumbai 400 023. ENCES Mukerji, D.D.(1931):Onasmallcollectionoffishfrom headwatersofBhavaniriver.SouthIndia.J. Bombay the Bhavani river(south India).J. Bombaynat. Hist. nat. Hist. Soc. 53(1):45-48. Soc. 35: 162-171. Remadevi,K.&T.J.Indra(1986): FishesofSilentValley Rajan,S.(1955):Notesonacollectionoffishesfromthe Rec. Zool. Surv. India. 84(1-4): 243-257. 160 JOURNAL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 96(1) APR. 1999 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES Shaji,C.P.&P.S.Easa(1997):Freshwaterfishdiversity Talwar, P.K. & A.G. Jhingran (1991): Inland fishes of inKeralapartoftheNilgiri BisophereReserve. Curr. India and adjacent countries. Oxford and IBH Sci. 73(2): 180-182. PublishingCo.,NewDelhi. 24. OCCURRENCE OF TETRAODONTRAVANCORICUS(HORA AND NAIR) INTHECHALAKUDY, PERIYARANDKECHERYRIVERS, KERALA Malabar puffer fish (Tetraodon have a dark bluish ventral band from mouth to travancoricus) is a small species ofless than 3 thecaudalregion. However,weobservedthatthe cm total length. Hora and Nair (1941) reported number of males with the above mentioned this species from Pamba river, Kerala. After a character were less than the female specimens. longperiod,thisspecieswasreportedagainfrom Out of the 56 specimens collected from inundated brickyards at Pudukkad, Trichur, Chalakudy river, only four specimens appeared Kerala (Inasu 1993). Apart from these male. Furthermore, it appeared in large groups, observations, there was no report on this fish occasionally in hundreds, observed mainly from other rivers in Kerala. duringthesummermonths(JanuarytoMay)and Distinguishing Characters: D 7-8; A 8; very rarely during the rainy season. Local P 16-18 fishermen consider this fish as “frog tadpoles”. T. travancoricus is characterised by an Thepresentreportextendsitsdistributiontothree oblong and laterally compressed body; arched more rivers in Kerala. dorsalprofile, highestatthe middle ofback; flat ACKNOWLEDGEMENT inter-orbital space; terminal mouth that is directed forward; nostril a hollow tube, nearly We thank Dr. M.O. Koshi, Principal, as high as wide, only its distalmostpart formed MarthomaCollegeforWomen,Perumbavoor,for intotwoverysmalllobeswhicharebentinwards, laboratory facilities. giving a key-hole appearance to the nares. Remarks: Specimenswerecollectedfrom May 30, 1998 BIJU, C.R. Kanakkankadavu area of Chalakudy river, RAJU THOMAS, K. Thattakad and Kalady regions of Periyar river AJITHKUMAR, C.R. andPuzhakkal area ofKechery river, andthis is Bombay Natural History Society, the first report ofthe species. This species was Hornbill House, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Road, not reported by earlier studies conducted in the Mumbai 400 023. Chalakudy and Kechery rivers (Thobias 1973, JOHN GEORGE, M. Antony 1973 and Inasu 1991). Zoology Department, Inastudyonthesexualdimorphism,Inasu Marthoma Collegefor Women, (1993)reports,allthemalesofthisspeciesshould Perumbavoor, Kerala. Refer :nces Antony,A.D.(1973):Systematics,ecology,bionomicsand Hora&Nair,collectedfromTrichurDistrict,Central distributionofthehillstreamfishesofTrichurDistrict. KeralaJ. Bombaynat. Hist. Soc. 90:523-524. Ph.D.thesissubmittedtotheCalicutUniversity. Hora,S.L.&K.K.Nair(1941):Newrecordsoffreshwater Inasu,N.D.(1991):Systematicsandbionomicsofinland fishfromTravancore.Rec.Ind. Mus. 43:387-393. fishesofTrichurDistrict.Ph.D.thesissubmittedtothe Thobias,M.P.(1973):Astudyontheecology,systematics CochinUniversityofScienceandTechnology. andbionomicsoffreshwaterfishesinpaddyfieldsand Inasu, N.D. (1993): Sexual dimorphism ofa freshwater riversinTrichurDistrict,Kerala,Ph.D.thesissubmitted puffer fish, Tetraodon (Monoiretus) travancoricus totheUniversityofCalicut. JOURNAL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 96(1). APR. 1999 161