Vol. 7, Issue 5, Part A (2025)

Ichthyofaunal diversity of Godavari River at Dowleswaram and surrounding fish landing centers were investigated from April 2021 to March 2022. The occurrence of Seventy-eight fish species belonging to fifteen orders, 30 families and 51 genera were observed during the study period. In the present study, order cypriniformes was dominant with 31 species which contributed to 39.74% of the total species followed by Siluriformes 17 (21.79%), Cichliformes with 6 (7.69%), Channiformes 04 (5.13%), Perciformes and Gobiiformes 03 (3.84%), Osteoglossiformes, Clupeiformes, Anguilliformes, Beloiniformes and Mastacembeliformes each with 02 (2.56%), Cyprinodontiformes, Elopiformes, Gonorynchiformes and Mogiliformes each 01 (1.28%). The family wise, genera wise species composition and exotic species percentage were recorded. Analysis of temporal variation of ichthyofaunal diversity revealed that maximum number of species was recorded during September 2021 whereas minimum during May 2022.The IUCN conservation status, Shannon-Weiner Diversity Index (H) of all these species are discussed in this paper. Based on our study, it is observed that the habitat protection and pollution reduction must be given due importance to conserve these precious inland resources.