• Checklist of Fishes from the Estuarine waters of River Vamsadhara at Kalingapatnam coast in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, India.

Ravikumar Yabaji1&2, Pappu Kirankumar3 and Yalla Poli Naidu4

Abstract:
Vamsadhara river which is also called as Bnshaadhara in Odisha is a minor, yet Perennial flows for about 254 kms long starting from the boarder of Thuamul Rampur in the Kalahandi district of Odhisha enters in to Srikakulam district at Pathapatnam Mandal in Andhra Pradesh till it connects to Bay of Bengal at Kalingapatnam Coast. The present study conducted to report the fish diversity in the estuarine (River mouth) waters of the Vamsadhara river at Kalingapatnam (Geographical coordinates of Lat. 18.33870N and Long. 84.12110E ) and Rajaramapuram (Lat.18.58350 N and Long. 83.89950 E) which resulted in the identification of total 32 species of fishes under 29 genera, 21 families and 10 Orders. Checklist of fishes was provided along with IUCN Status. In our findings one species that is Arius gogora is listed as Nearly Threatened, while Channa orinetalis is listed as Vulnerable as per the IUCN Red Data list. Three more species Thryssa malabarica, Platycephalus indicus and Taenioides cirratus are categorized as Data Deficient, Five species, including Glossogobius giuris, Eleutheronema tetradactylum, Valamugil cunnesius, Liza parsia and Arius jella caterogorized as Not Evaluated. The remaining species are belongs to Least Concern. The estuarine area of Vamsadhara sustains a subsistence fishery that supports the livelihood of the fishermen communities in its surrounding villages.