Govt releases the book ‘Barcode Atlas of Indian Fishes’ at Animal Taxonomy Summit 2024
The book aims to provide a comprehensive reference for researchers, academicians, policymakers, and conservationists involved in fish biodiversity and conservation.
The Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav released the book ‘Barcode Atlas of Indian Fishes’ during the 109th Foundation Day Celebration of ZSI and the Animal Taxonomy Summit 2024 held in Kolkata.
The book is a collaboration between ICAR-NBFGR and Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) to document and catalogue the diverse fish species in the Indian subcontinent using DNA barcoding techniques. It aims to provide a comprehensive reference for researchers, academicians, policymakers, and conservationists involved in fish biodiversity and conservation. The atlas includes scientific, common, and vernacular names, order, family, habitat, distribution, economic importance, and conservation status as per IUCN categories. DNA barcoding, which uses a short genetic sequence from a standardized genome region, enhances the accuracy of fish identification, especially in subtle morphological differences or processed fish products.
Yadav has said that India has become the first country in the world to prepare a checklist of its entire fauna, covering 104,561 species, positioning itself as a global leader in biodiversity documentation. He said, the silver lining is that India is a global champion in biodiversity conservation, adding that our tradition, ethos and values respect nature and promote biodiversity conservation. Yadav launched the Fauna of India Checklist Portal on the occasion of 109th Foundation Day of Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) in Kolkata.
Yadav also released an iconic publication of ZSI, ‘Animal Discoveries– 2023’ comprising 641 new animal species and new records from India and ‘Plant Discoveries- 2023’ of Botanical Survey of India (BSI) comprising 339 new plant species and new records from the country published by scientists, faculties and researchers from India.
Other important publications ‘Fauna of India–109 barcodes’, ‘Catalogue of Hoverflies’, ‘Catalogue of Muscidae’ & ‘Flora of India Series’ were released by the union minister. The first-ever ‘Barcode Atlas of Indian Fishes’- a joint publication by the ICAR-NBFGR, Lucknow & ZSI, Kolkata and ‘ROAR – Celebrating 50 years of Project Tiger’ a book written by Shiladitya Chaudhury & Ketan Sengupta were also released on the occasion.
Jitendra Kumar, IFS, Director General, Forests & Special Secretary, MoEFCC, Ms. Nameeta Prasad, Joint Secretary, MoEFCC, Dr. A.A. Mao, Director, Botanical Survey of India, Dr. Uttam Kumar Sarkar, Director, ICAR-NBFGR, Lucknow, Dr. Dhriti Banerjee, Director, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata and other scientists, researchers, and academicians of the country, were present during the programme.
The book aims to provide a comprehensive