Diversity of Cypriniforms Throughout Bangladesh : Present Status & Conservation Challenges

Bangladesh is endowed with a vast expanse of inland openwaters characterised by rivers, canals, natural and man-made lakes, freshwater marshes, estuaries, brackish water impoundments and floodplains. The potential fish resources resulting from these are among the richest in the world; in production, only China and India outrank Bangladesh. The inland openwater fin-fish fauna is an assemblage of ~267 species, the diversity of which is attributed to the habitats created by the Bengal Delta wetlands and the confluence of the Brahmaputra, Ganges and Jamuna rivers that flow from the Himalayan Mountains into the Bay of Bengal. This book discusses the diversity of cypriniforms throughout Bangladesh.