States, cities fast adopting fish as mascots

Ask anyone to name the national animal and straight comes the answer -- tiger. Ask likewise for the national aquatic animal and there's a long pause.

It's this lack of knowledge about India's rich marine biodiversity that the first ever official compendium of national and state fish seeks to fill. For one -- "State Fishes and Aquatic Animals of India 2024", launched in the capital on Wednesday, tells you that 22 of India's 36 states and UTs now have officially designated state fish and the trend of fish as city mascots is catching up. Gujatar's seven municipal corporations have adopted the Whale shark as their mascot and Guwahati city recently declared the Ganges River dolphin -- national aquatic animal -- as its mascot.

The publication, piloted by the National Fisheries Development Board, to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the Centre's flagship "Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana", documents aquatic organisms’ habitat, distribution, IUCN ( International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species) red list status and conservation trends.

It traces the conservation history of India's national aquatic animal -- the Ganges River Dolphin -- to the 3rd century BCE and cites its listing as a protected species in

the Edicts of King Asoka. The compendium -- a treat for marine researchers -- also details the Ganges River dolphin's unique behaviour tactics. The dolphin hunts by emitting ultrasonic sounds as its eyes are incapable of forming clear images. These sounds bounce off the prey enabling the dolphin to detect it.

Interestingly for the region, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu and Kashmir share the Himalayan mahseer as their state fish. Famous for its athleticism, the mahseer is better known as the "tiger of the rivers".

Haryana's designated state fish is the Black rohu, a popular food and game fish and Punjab's official aquatic animal is the Indus river dolphin, marked endangered on the IUCN red list. Though similar in appearance to the Ganges dolphin, the Indus dolphin is genetically different from the Ganges Dolphin. The two are separated by the number of teeth they have.

The compendium released by Union Minister of Fisheries Rajiv Ranjan Singh details 21 aquatic species which are currently designated either as State fish, State aquatic animal or State animal. In all, Indian waters hold 200 fish species.

Ongoing efforts to designate the state fish aim to unlock hidden potential of the fisheries sector.

Though India ranks first globally in inland fish production, third in capture fish production and second in total fish production contributing 8% to global fish output, only around 58 % of its inland fisheries potential has yet been explored.