miss Kerala aka Sahyadria denisonii

Sahyadria denisonii is an endangered fish found in the Southern Indian State of Kerala and along the Western Ghats rain forests. They are mostly found in Chalakkudy River, Chaliyar and Kuttiyadi River. I have been fascinated with fishes and aquatic plants from child hood and we had aquariums at home for more than 4 decades now. So, when I had setup an office using aquariums as cubicle separations was quite natural for me and crazy for everyone else.

Scientific Name

Originally and until recently the fish was named as Puntius denisonii and later a second variety was identified in Chalakudy river which was claimed to be smaller. Finally all the varities are now grouped into one with a brand new name called Sahyadria-denisonii [1]. So there is no "Sahyadria chalakkudiensis" or " Puntius denisonii" but all are classified under Sahyadria chalakkudiensis.

The name miss Kerala comes as no surprise as the Kerala society is famous for rapes, attacking women and quite an extreme sexual behavior unlike probably any other part in the world !

(figure1 : home aquarium)

I would rather call the fish as denisonii to be constantly reminded of child molesting and hypocritical society!

So, where is the fish coming from ?

The fish got quite famous in the hobbyists in the 2000s and this prompted illegal export. This finally resulted in near extinction of the species and it found its place in the notoriously sad red list of endagered species by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)

Poking around a bit, I figured out that KAVIL (Kerala Aqua Ventures International Limited ) has the fish and I had understood that breeding the fish is not an easy task. So, went to the fisheries center to collect some fish and to gather information.

Here it goes:

Photo 3: The tanks with ornamental fish

Photo 4 : A small cage to selectively breed fish. This particular one had beautiful yellow Guppy in them.

Photo5 : Tanks to capture the water coming out of the breeding and stocking tanks.

Photo 6: Nice and friendly staff engaged in conversations with priceless tips with us

While I still don't know the exact method for breeding, now I know from where I can learn the breeding and it is a fisheries hatchery in Azheekode, Kerala. Soon, I would come back with a series on it and probably a bunch of fries.

References

1. http://www.fishbase.org/summary/Sahyadria-denisonii.html