International Journal of Zoology Studies 32 International Journal of Zoology Studies ISSN: 2455-7269; Impact Factor: RJIF 5.14 www.zoologyjournals.com Volume 1; Issue 5; July 2016; Page No. 32-35 Conservation status of fresh water fishes reported in Alwara Lake of District Kaushambi (U.P.) 1 Shri Prakash, 2 Ashok Kumar Verma 1 Department of Zoology, K.A.P.G. College, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India 2 Department of Zoology, Govt. P.G. College, Saidabad Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Abstract An attempt was made to study the conservation status of the fishes naturally occurring in Alwara Lake, located in Kaushambi district of Uttar Pradesh. The survey was undertaken during all the 12 months of year 2014. During exploration, a total of 89 species of fishes belonging to 45 genera, 23 families and 9 orders were identified. As per latest version of IUCN Red List, out of 89 species of fishes identified, 2 species come under EN (Endangered), 2 under UV (Vulnerable), 5 under NT (near threatened), 56 under LC (least concern) and 24 species are NE (not evaluated) so far. Keywords: Pisces, Fish species, Conservation status, Sarus crane, Alwara Lake 1. Introduction Fishes are cold-blooded, gill-bearing aquatic craniate vertebrates that include both the bony and the cartilaginous fishes but sometimes jawless fishes too. They belong to phylum: Chordata, subphylum: Vertebrata and super class: Pisces. The fishes are not only used as good source of food for mankind, having economic importance from medicinal point of view but also play a crucial role in the second tropic level of the aquatic ecosystem. The lake under exploration is situated in the Yamuna basin of district Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh which is a part of Gangetic Plain of India (northern region). The annual floods of adjacent river Yamuna bring about the wide range of fish fauna and establish vast openness of agricultural land after rainy season. A review of literature revealed that this lake had been studied for sarus crane by some researchers like Verma et al., [1-5] and Prakash et al., [6-8] . A limnological, zooplanktonic and phytoplanktonic study of this lake was done by Prakash et al., [9- 11] and Verma et al., [12-13] while Prakash et al., [14] and Verma et al., [15] conducted the study of fish biodiversity of this lake. 2. Study Area The Alwara Lake (Fig 1) is a natural lake (Fig 2) and a part of perennial wetland. It is surrounded by agricultural fields and connected to the river Yamuna and covers more than 1750 hectares. It is located in Sarsawan block of Manjhanpur tahsil of Kaushambi district of Uttar Pradesh. This lake is surrounded by Ranipur, Dundi, Hatwa and Bhawansuri in east, Paur Kashi Rampur, Alwara and Gaura in the north, Shahpur, Umrawan in the south and Mawai, Tikra and Dalelaganj in the west. It is situated between the latitude 25 0 24’05.84”S – 25 0 25’10.63”N and longitude 81 0 11’39.49”E-81 0 12’57.95”W with altitude MSL – 81.08 meter. Fig 1: Location of study area in Kaushambi (U.P.) Fig 2: A view of Alwara Lake in Kaushambi (U.P.) showing sarus cranes