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The controlled breeding program of Schizothorax labiatus requires in-depth knowledge of its reproductive features, which were studied for 2 years (October 2017 to September 2019). The study revealed four maturity phases in S. labiatus differing morphologically as well as histologically. Overall gonadosomatic index (GSI) followed the same trend in both the sexes (p>0.05; t-test), but a significant difference in GSI was observed in March with females having a higher GSI than males (p<0.05; t-test). The peak values of GSI in both sexes were observed during April and May with an abrupt decrease in June. The minimum ova diameter (0.3 mm) showed high frequency during the regressing phase, whereas the maximum ova diameter (2.4 mm) showed high frequency during the spawning capable phase. Absolute and relative fecundity ranged from 2754±1388 to 13465±7508 ova and 14±10 to 45±12 ova/g body weight, respectively. Absolute fecundity showed a highly significant positive correlation (p<0.01) with ovary weight as compared to ovary length, total length, and the total weight of the fish. Length at first maturity (Lm) for males and females was estimated to be 23.6 cm and 27.6 cm, respectively, indicating that males mature earlier than females. GSI of both sexes was found to increase significantly with the water temperature from December to April (rs = 1.0 for males and rs = 0.9 for females; p<0.05). The unimodal distribution of oocytes revealed that all oocytes are released in a short period (total spawner) from the late spring to summer season.

For aquaculture assessments, the length-weight relationship and condition factor are considered as standard methods for determining fish growth, its health and the potential yield. A year-long study was conducted to calculate length-weight relationships (LWRs) and condition factor (K) for seven fish species, Schizothorax niger (Alghad or snowtrout), S. curvifrons (Sattar snowtrout), Cyprinus carpio (Common carp), Carassius carassius (Crucian carp), Pethia conchonius (Rosy barb), Crossocheilus diplochilus (Kashmir latia) and Gambusia holbrooki (Mosquito fish) in Manasbal Lake. The results revealed that four captured fish species (S. niger, S. curvifrons, C. diplochilus and G. holbrooki) exhibited negative allometric growth, while other fish species (C. carpio, C. carassius, P. conchonius) exhibited positive allometric growth. LWR was significant at P < 0.01 in all seven fish species, with a coefficient of determination (R2) ranging between 0.73 to 0.96. The K was higher in C. carpio than C. carassius, P. conchonius, G. holbrooki, C. diplochilus, S. niger and S. curvifrons. The current study providing the LWRs and condition factor of seven fish species from Manasbal Lake, Kashmir will be helpful for the management of fish species as well as for assessing the ecological condition of the Lake.

Diversity, abundance and distribution pattern of the fish fauna are important aspects that need to be considered in order to frame the conservation and management strategies in any water body. To assess the composition, diversity and relative abundance of the fish fauna in the Manasbal Lake of Kashmir, the present study was carried out for two years (March 2018 - February 2020). A total of 22522 fish specimens were netted out during the sampling period, and the relative abundance and various diversity indices were used to assess the overall diversity of the inhabiting fish fauna. A total of 7 species belonging to two families, Cyprinidae and Poeciliidae, were reported, of which the family Cyprinidae was dominant in the catch. The relative abundance and diversity of the fish fauna showed spatio-temporal variation wherein Pethia conchonius was most abundant during spring and winter, while Gambusia holbrooki was most abundant during summer and autumn. Cyprinus carpio was found to be abundant during all the seasons at Site II and Site III as compared to native cyprinids, Schizothorax niger and S. curvifrons. The current study also indicated a good fish diversity in the lake which varies on spatio-temporal scales, showing maximum diversity during winter (Hʹ =1.498) and minimum diversity during summer (Hʹ = 1.247), while Site II showed maximum diversity (Hʹ =1.369) and Site I showed minimum diversity (Hʹ =1.085). Overall lake possesses good fish diversity that could be a great source of income for the local populace provided the fish assemblages are sustainably managed.

Manasbal Lake is the deepest freshwater lake in India and has suffered environmental degradation due to various human activities, such as agriculture, urban expansion, tourism, stone quarrying etc. The lake is in dire need of comprehensive restoration measures to restore its ecological balance, which is quite crucial for the region's economy and culture. Preserving this natural treasure safeguards biodiversity, supports local livelihoods and ensures that future generations can enjoy its unique beauty, making it a vital investment for the region's well-being and prosperity. The present study aims to consolidate data concerning the diverse biotic and abiotic elements of Manasbal Lake within the context of its management and preservation. It provides crucial insights into the hydrological and watershed features of Manasbal Lake, while also offering a comprehensive historical overview. Moreover, the document elaborates on the water quality indicators and key biotic components to delineate the ecological dynamics within the lake. Additionally, it outlines various environmental issues confronting the lake and proposes remedial actions to protect its ecosystem. Manasbal Lake is facing substantial ecological challenges due to human settlements, agricultural runoff, tourism, and stone quarrying. The influx of nutrients from household waste, sewage, and agricultural activities has led to significant eutrophication. Tourism has exacerbated this problem, with motorboat use and oil spills further polluting the lake. Stone quarrying has added excessive calcium, causing sedimentation and nutrient buildup, adversely affecting aquatic life and local vegetation. Addressing these issues requires comprehensive management strategies to regulate human activities, improve waste management, and restore the lake's ecological balance.This research could facilitate the endeavors of scholars interested in investigating the ecology of Manasbal Lake by offering a framework of the essential ecological facets linked to this water body.

The transfer of energy from producers to consumers, such as fish, fish larvae, and invertebrates, is facilitated by zooplankton. Consequently, zooplankton play a crucial part in the productivity and functioning of aquatic ecosystems, and they are also involved in the application of several emerging environmental management concepts, such as Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), bioindication of pollution, and biomonitoring. To analyse the present condition of the Anchar Lake, this research was conducted to investigate the zooplankton association, their abundance, richness, diversity (Cladocera and Rotifera), and their seasonal fluctuations in connection to limnological factors. Four sampling sites were used to examine thirteen physicochemical parameters along with the abundance of zooplankton from January 2019 to December 2020. During the present investigation, significant variation (p < 0.05) was observed in transparency (trans), dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total alkalinity (TA), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N), total hardness (TH), and total phosphorus (TP) between the different sites of Anchar Lake, whereas non-significant variation was observed in air temperature (AT), water temperature (WT), free carbon dioxide (FCO2), chloride (Cl-), and nitrite-nitrogen (NO2-N). The results further revealed a total of 44 zooplankton species, belonging to two: Rotifera (27 species) and Cladocera (17 species). The zooplankton diversity was found to vary on spatiotemporal scales showing maximum values for the Shannon diversity index in the case of Cladocera during spring (2.63±0.25) and for Rotifera during summer (2.53±0.25) whereas, minimum diversity values were recorded during winter for both Cladocera and Rotifera (1.54±0.44 & 1.47±0.54 respectively). On the spatial scale, site-A2 showed maximum diversity of Cladocera (2.3±0.21), while site-A4 showed maximum diversity of Rotifera (1.99±0.03). The influence of physicochemical parameters on zooplankton distribution and diversity provides a detailed picture of the impact of pollution load in Anchar Lake.

Zooplankton are the precious elements of aquatic ecosphere playing a significant role in some ecological phenomena viz., biomonitoring, ecological indication, link between primary producers and higher trophic levels, aquaculture,and maintenance of balance in aquatic food webs.The climate,being a dynamic abiotic entity, changed many times during the history of earth particularly before and after the industrial revolution.The unending materialistic benefits of human beings have been increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases since the last few decades that is enough to raise the global temperature. It is a fact that both biotic and abiotic factors affect the dynamics of aquatic biota due to which the aquatic ecosystems and the organisms inhabiting them such as zooplankton are becoming the worst targets of the climate change phenomenon. Some of the significant consequences of climate change posing threats for the zooplankton community include increased temperature, acidification, nutrient enrichment,and increasing ultraviolet (UV) environment of the aquatic ecosystem that significantly affect theirsurvival, behaviour, nutritional procurement, reproduction,and their overall population dynamics.Due to the profound effects of climate change on the zooplankton community, the entire aquatic food web gets crushed away leading to more severe concerns about the higher trophic levels and overall dynamics of the aquatic biota. Thus,unending loss in the dynamics of the aquatic ecosystem could prevailand will go on expanding if the causal factors of climate change continue to operate beyond their limits unless a strong scientific policy and framework in contrary to climate change are reinforced with the key focus on aquatic biota especially zooplankton.

The current work was conducted to investigate fisheries dynamics, rate of growth, and mortality, along with demographic features of Schizothorax niger using length-frequency data collected monthly from Manasbal Lake from August 2020 and July 2022. The length data for estimation was categorized into 13 bins, and population parameters were explored utilizing various options in ELEFAN I, with the best fit (Rn = 0.282) calculated by means of the FiSAT-II application. TW = 1.94 TL 2.94 , with a  =  − 1.94, b  = 2.94, and an attuned r 2  = 0.77 were derived for the weight and length association. The growing performance metric (ϕ) was calculated as 2.80. S. niger harvested stock in Manasbal Lake was prevalent in length categories of 20.5 to 25.4 and 25.5 to 30.4 cm. Different growth attributes were valued utilizing length frequency statistics as L ∞  = 46.05 cm, k  = 0.30/year, and t 0  =  − 0.493 years. Over all mortality ( Z ), natural mortality ( M ), and fishing mortality ( F ) coefficients were evaluated as 1.43 year −1 , 0.56 year −1 , and 0.87 year −1 , respectively. The fish’s average length was assessed at the culmination of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th year as 15.42 cm, 22.78 cm, 28.09 cm, 32.61 cm, 36.03 cm, and 38.53 cm, respectively. Recruitment patterns in S. niger from Manasbal Lake indicate a singular annual recruitment occurrence, exclusively observed during the month of June. The current value of the exploitation (fish harvest) ratio ( E ) was 0.61 by the size-transformed catch curvature method, found to be marginally lower than the maximum value ( E max ) of 0.699 depicting that the species is on the brink of overexploitation, and caution is required to maintain sustainability. The seasonal analysis of water quality parameters revealed that except for pH and free carbon dioxide, the other parameters showed pronounced temporal variations. Total alkalinity values were reflective of hard water type of the lake, and dissolved oxygen and free carbon dioxide values were reported to be suitable for S. niger.

The present paper is a review of the available literature on the significance of forage fish, the plethora of services they provide, and the threats faced by them. Forage fish are pelagic planktivorous species that operate as conduits of energy between the lower trophic level (plankton) and the upper trophic level (predators). A variety of ecosystem services are provided by them, from serving as prey for higher trophic levels to producing fish meal and oil. Forage fish have a consumption value for humans and cultural importance to many societies. Forage fish have faced constant natural and anthropogenic threats in the past, resulting in numerous fish collapses which subsequently impacted their predators. The economic benefit provided by forage fish has been estimated to be approximately $ 18.7 billion per annum. An introspection of the data on ecosystem services revealed lack of data on regulating and cultural services, eventually leading to a monetary underestimation and their commercial prioritization over the wider benefits they provide.

[...]the main aim of the present study was to provide detailed, baseline information about the morphometric characters and meristic counts of this fish species Materials and Methods Study Area Dal Lake is the second largest lake after Wular in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Since this lake is located in the city of Srinagar, it is also sometimes referred to as an urban lake. The relationship between fish body length and weight is of great importance in fisheries biology and population dynamics where many stock assessment models require the use of length-weight parameters (Froese 2006). [...]when the b value exceeds three, fish growth is allometric (Qadri and Mir 1980).

The sustainability and management of ecological services provided by the stream ecosystem requires regular assessment of its physicochemical parameters. The anthropogenic pressure in terms of deforestation, urbanization, use of fertilizers and pesticides, land use, and climate change are the major factors responsible for the deterioration of water quality. In the present study, we monitored 14 physicochemical parameters at three different sites from June 2018 to May 2020 in both the Aripal and Watalara streams of Kashmir Himalaya. The data was analyzed through one-way ANOVA, Duncan’s multiple range test, two-tailed Pearson’s correlation, and multivariate statistical techniques like principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA). A significant variation (p < 0.05) was observed in all the physicochemical parameters on both spatial (except AT, WT, and DO) and seasonal (except TP and NO 3 -N) scales. Pearson’s correlation revealed a significantly strong positive correlation for AT, WT, EC, Alk, TDS, TP, NO 3 -N, and NO 2 -N. PCA's first four principal components were considered significant as they represented the highest cumulative percent variances of 76.49% and 74.72% in Aripal and Watalara streams, respectively. The loading and scatter plots revealed that AT, WT, TP, NO 3 -N, and NO 2 -N influence water quality. The strong loading of these parameters indicates the anthropogenic activities in the streams. CA depicted two well-defined clusters, wherein cluster-I is comprised of sites A3 and W3 which indicate poor water quality. In contrast, cluster-II is comprised of sites A1, W1, A2, and W2 which indicate good water quality. The present study could be helpful to ecologists, limnologists, policymakers, and other stakeholders in developing long-term management programs and conservation strategies for water resources.