Published Paper Details:

Aquatic vertebrates play crucial role in their respective ecosystems for ecological balance and stability. Fresh water fishes constitutes the most conspicuous component of inland aquatic fauna.These cold blooded Gnathostome vertebrates are perpetually chained to an underwater existence and occur in all kind of hydrographic media. . The river water under goes drastic changes in hydrogen ion concentration according to the rain fall and other potential factors such as their origin in snow capped mountains, which melt during summers. The migration of the fish during rainy season or monsoon is mostly for breeding purpose. The Amphibians are known for their dual life both on land as well as in water, mostly they spend early stage or developmental stages of their life in water. Amphibians often spend their adult life near the water bodies and marshy or moist places. The River Tawi was investigated in 2007-08 for thorough study of fauna from its banks and inside the water . During the investigation very limited groups of vertebrates were explored and studied that included some species of prominent fishes of the region and a unique species of Amphibian. This investigation was carried out between Nagrota and nikki Tawi bridge that covers 7-8 kms stretch of the river. Attempts were made to collect the specimens periodically in all the seasons and several chances were gone vain since river is deteriorating due to direct and indirect exposure of pollutants and solid wastes coming from highly populated Jammu city in the form of sewerages and garbages. Pollution caused major damage to important fauna of the river and reduced population of its inhabitants to greater extent. Main emphasis have been laid on the recovery of fauna present in the river and particularly vertebrates ( Fishes and Amphibians ) that plays major role in the ecosystem and functions as top most consumers in the food chain and food webs at certain trophic levels. During the investigation three species of fishes and one species of Frog were found and studied for their characteristic features. The fishes studied were Tor tor, Labeo rohita and Mystus seenghala ,while one species of frog was Rana cyanophlyctis.