Northern Deccan Plateau



ID


713

Author(s)


J. Hales


Countries


India

Major Habitat Type


Tropical and subtropical floodplain rivers and wetland complexes

Drainages flowing into


Bay of Bengal


Main rivers to other water bodies


Godavari River, Mahanadi River



Description

Boundaries

This ecoregion includes the Mahanadi and Godavari basins and other smaller basins south of the Ganges basin [ecoregion 709].

Description of endemic fishes

No endemic species

Justification for delineation

For Southeast Asia, delineations were determined using a bottom-up approach that employed both published and unpublished field data and expert assessment (Abell et al. 2008; Talwar & Jhingran 1991). This ecoregion was distinguished from other ecoregions in peninsular India based on basins, and needs to be tested with reliable data (M. Kottelat pers. comm. 2006).

Level of taxonomic exploration

Although there is a plethora of small papers on fish distribution in India, there is no synthesis of fish distribution in the country outside of the Ganges basin (M. Kottelat pers. comm. 2006).


References

  • Abell, Robin,M.L. Thieme,C. Revenga,M. Bryer,M. Kottelat,N. Bogutskaya,B. Coad,N. Mandrak,S.C. Balderas,W. Bussing,M.L.J. Stiassny,P. Skelton,G.R. Allen,P. Unmack,A. Naseka,R. Ng,N. Sindorf,J. Robertson,E. Armijo,J.V. Higgins,T.J. Heibel,E. Wikramanayake, (2008). "Freshwater Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Biogeographic Units for Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation" BioScience 58 (5) pp. 403-414.
  • Talwar, P. K. and A. G. Jhingran (1991). "Inland fishes of India and adjacent countries. Vol. I and II" Rotterdam, The Netherlands: A. A. Balkema.