Guwahati, Dec. 1: Scientists have found three fish species after nearly two decades from the Surma-Meghna river basin in Meghalaya.

S.N. Ramanujam of North Eastern Hill University (Nehu) and his team spotted the fishes, which has been reported in the Journal of Threatened Taxa.

The three species are Bagarius yarrelli, Parambassis lala and Hemibagrus menoda.

Bagarius yarrelli has not been reported so far from Meghalaya while Hemibagrus menoda and Parambassis lala have been reported in Assam but not in Meghalaya.

"The recording of the fish species are after nearly two decades," Ramanujam of School of Life Sciences, Nehu, told The Telegraph.

The paper says waterbodies of Meghalaya harbour diverse fish with various adaptive features suited to the hill stream environment. The important north-flowing rivers of the state are Umiam, Kopili, Myntang, Jingiram and Rongai, which join the Brahmaputra, and the south-flowing rivers include Simsang Rongdi, Shella, Balat, Kynshi, Umngot, Myntdu and Bugi, which drain in the Surma-Meghna drainage system.

Eight fish species are reported to be endemic to Meghalaya.

Ramanujam says in the article that all the three species are considered food, of which Parambassis lala is an important ornamental fish.

"It has been found out that the distribution of Bagarius yarrelli and Hemibagrus menoda is confined to one location each while Parambassis lala is found in two different locations out of the 33 surveyed sites. The restricted distributions of these may be either because of over-exploitation or other anthropogenic activities, which if continued, may threaten their survival. Bagarius yarrelli and Parambassis lala have already been listed as near-threatened species in the IUCN's Red List. Precautionary measures to reduce the destruction of the habitat have to be taken to conserve these species," the article said.

Fish samples were collected using cast nets, gill nets, dragnets, triangular scoop nets and a variety of local-made traps and also with the help of local fishermen.

"The Northeast is one of the hotspots of freshwater fish biodiversity in Asia and its rich ichthyologic diversity is yet to be explored properly. The region shares its fish fauna predominantly with that of the Indo-Gangetic fauna and to a small extent with the Burmese and South China fish fauna. The hills and the undulating valleys of this area give rise to a large number of torrential hill streams, which lead to big rivers and finally, become part of the Ganga-Brahmaputra, Surma-Meghna-Barak, Kolodyne and Chindwin river systems," the paper says.