Distribution and Taxonomic Study of a Newly Recorded Croaking Gourami, Trichopsis vittata (Cuvier, 1831) in Bangladesh

ACTA SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE (ISSN: 2581-365X)
Volume 4 Issue 1 January 2020
Distribution and Taxonomic Study of a Newly Recorded Croaking Gourami,
Trichopsis vittata (Cuvier, 1831) in Bangladesh
Shoaibe Hossain Talukder Shefat1,2
* and Md. Shamim Hossain2,3
1
Department of Fisheries Management, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur, Bangladesh
2
Haor Flood Management and Livelihood Improvement Project, World Fish
Bangladesh and South Asia Office, Dhaka, Bangladesh
3
Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
*Corresponding Author: Shoaibe Hossain Talukder Shefat, Department of
Fisheries Management, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural
University, Gazipur, Bangladesh.
Research Article
Abstract
Keywords: Alien Species; Croaking Noise; Obligate Air-Breathing; Standard Length; Conservation Status
Trichopsis vittata (Cuvier 1831), a freshwater croaking gourami (Osphronemidae), typically regarded as a negative biological in-
dicator, has been recorded from four different freshwater habitats in Bangladesh during the study period from December 2017 to
August 2018. Taxonomic identification was confirmed from the external appearance, morphometric measurements and meristic
counts of the species. The body was laterally elongated with clearly visible stripes and black blotch above the pectoral fin base. Aver-
age total length, standard length, pre-dorsal length, pelvic fin base length, dorsal fin base length, anal-fin base length, and pectoral-fin
base length were 5.3 cm, 3.64 cm, 2.36 cm, 2.17 cm, 1.95 cm, 1.5 cm, and 1.0 cm. The number of rays in the dorsal fin, anal fin, pectoral
fin, pelvic fin, and caudal fin were 7-10, 31-34, 9-11, 5-8 and 14-17. The occurrence of T. vittata in these rivers indicates their rapid
spreading across the country within a very short period of time. Intensive research programs along with counter surveys are sug-
gested to cross-check their spreading pattern, ecological sensitivity, and impacts on native fish biodiversity.
Bangladesh is a South Asian country having precious water re-
sources comprised of inland freshwater, brackish water, and ma-
rine waters enriched with aquatic biodiversity of about 800 fish
species [1,2]. It is in the third position among the most suitable re-
gions for ﬁsheries and aquaculture in the world due to geographic
position. Freshwater habitats of Bangladesh contain biodiversity
of 260 indigenous fish and 24 freshwater prawn species. Such rich
species diversity is attributed to the large area of ﬂooded wetlands
including beels, haors, baors, lakes, and the major river systems of
the Padma, Meghna, and Jamuna [3]. There are about 40-50 small
indigenous species (SIS) are available in Bangladesh which can
grow up to a maximum length of 25 cm [4]. Besides these, about
150 exotic fish species have been introduced into the country over
the last decades for aquaculture purposes, of which about 24 fish
species are found in the floodplains and tributaries of the Ganges
Delta [5-7].
Recently, a notable number of individuals of invasive croaking
gourami, Trichopsis vittata (Cuvier 1831, Family: Osphronemidae)
have been recorded from different freshwater habitats of Dhaka
and Chittagong division. The croaking gourami T. vittata is a South-
east Asian freshwater fish species from the perch group, distrib-
uted worldwide from Thailand to Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, and
Vietnam [8-10], Myanmar [11]; the USA [12-14] and India [15-17].
This species is not commercially important, often sold as a part of
mixed catches in markets. It is an insectivorous fish, naturally ca-
pable of producing a croaking noise using pectoral fins [18-20]. Vo-
calization often starts on the day after hatching and changes with
the age of hatchlings and the structure of sound-producing organs
[21,22]. They are obligate air-breather, have no lateral line system
and fins possess marked filamentation [8]. T. vittata is typically
regarded as a negative biological indicator. This species was iden-
tified for the first time in Bangladesh from the Meghna River and
its adjacent areas [3]. Few other studies reported their occurrence
from the old Brahmaputra river and its distributaries (Dhaleshwari
and Turag), the Meghna river and adjacent areas, and the Baikka
Beel wetland sanctuary in Moulovibazar district of Bangladesh, but
their source of introduction and impacts on native fish biodiversity
in Bangladesh water are still unknown [6,11,23].
Mostly, the exotic or non-native or invasive alien species (IAS)
are introduced intentionally or accidentally to an area outside of
its natural distribution. These species are not harmful in their na-
tive habitats, but they compete with native fish species for food and
habitats when they enter into a new environment. These species
can spread very easily and quickly without being affected by the
local enemies. Invasive species is one of the major causes of na-
tive biodiversity loss as it can alter and degrade the habitat status;
reduce food supplies, and poses threats to the environment. Ac-
Introduction
Received: December 10, 2019
Published: December 23, 2019
© All rights are reserved by Shoaibe
Hossain Talukder Shefat and Md Shamim
Hossain.
Citation: Shoaibe Hossain Talukder Shefat and Md. Shamim Hossain. “Distribution and Taxonomic Study of a Newly Recorded Croaking Gourami,
Trichopsis vittata (Cuvier, 1831) in Bangladesh". Acta Scientific Agriculture 4.1 (2020): 107-111.

The inland open water bodies of Bangladesh are rich sources of
different types of fishes from ancient times. There are about 700
actively flowing rivers in Bangladesh across the country having
260 freshwater fish and other commercially important aquatic or-
ganisms. T. vittata was first collected from the freshwater swamps
interconnected with the River Buriganga on 14th December 2017
at 11:40 am. Different types of fishing traps and gears were used in
sampling the fish. A total of twenty-one individuals were collected
from the Buriganga, Feni, Muhuri and Kalidas Paharia River (Figure
1) from December 2017 to August 2018. Among the study sites, the
Buriganga River a highly polluted freshwater habitat located in the
central division (Dhaka) of Bangladesh. The Feni River is a trans-
boundary river originated from the hill ranges of south Tripura in
India (23°20'N and 91°47'E) and entered Bangladesh through Sa-
broom town of India. This river is used to form the demarcation
line between Chittagong, Noakhali and Tripura State of India. The
Muhuri River also known as Little Feni originated from Noakhali
District joins the Feni River near its mouth at Char Kalidas point.
Among the sampling sites, two were main river streams and
two others are freshwater swamp interconnected with the main
river. The collection localities are grouped in a relatively small area.
Three specimens were collected from the River Buriganga and ad-
jacent areas, six from the Kalidas Paharia River, seven from the Feni
River and five from the Muhuri River (Table 1).
Materials and Method
cording to Moyle and Leidy [24], approximately 20% of the world’s
freshwater fish species are already extinct or in a serious declining
phase due to the introduction of IAS. Another school of scientists
opined that definitely, this species will compete for niche space and
food with native species [17]. However, very limited works have
been conducted on T. vittata in Bangladesh for which most part of
their life is unrevealed to us. In this context, this study aimed to en-
hance our understanding of the taxonomic status, source of intro-
duction, impacts on native fish biodiversity and spreading pattern
of this croaking gourami for proper management and conservation
in Bangladesh.
Collected fish samples were immediately preserved in 10%
formaldehyde for taxonomic study. After that, the fish samples
were transferred into 30%, 50% and 70% subsequent solutions
of ethanol for long-time preservation following the preservation
method stated by Talwar and Jingran [15] and Sterba [25]. Mor-
phometric and meristic characteristics including Total Length
(TL), Standard Length (SL), Forked Length (FL), Head Length (HL),
Peduncle Length (PL), Peduncle Depth (PD), Pectoral Fin Length
(P1
FL), Pelvic Fin Length (P2
FL), Pelvic Fin Base Length (P2FB),
Scale Above Lateral Line (SALL), rays in dorsal fin, anal fin, pectoral
fin, pelvic fin, and caudal fin and others were studied using stan-
dard methodology used by Murdy and Shibukawa [26].
The body shape of the collected T. vittata samples was laterally
elongated and the dorsal fin originates far behind the base of the
pectoral fin. Body-color was a pale brown with black spots on the
fins and two black stripes on both sides of the body. The iris of the
eye was bright blue. Multi-branched fin rays are present in the anal
fin with six to eight spines. Pelvic fin contains 1 spine, followed by
a filament and 4 branched rays. The dorsal fin contains 2-4 spines.
The anal fin has few elongated filament-like rays extending to the
tip of caudal fin; and black blotches above the pectoral-fin base.
About 13 transverse scale rows are present in their body and lat-
eral line absent (Figure 2).
Results and Discussion
Sampling Stations
Geographical Locations Individuals
CollectedLongitude Latitude
The Buriganga
River
90°21′45.6′′E 22°42′36.81′′N 3
Kalidas Paharia
River
91°28′29.6′′E 22°54′22.11′′N 6
Feni River 91°27′52.5′′E 22°54′40.21′′N 7
Muhuri River 91°30′25.5′′E 22°55′17.11′′N 5
Table 1: Total individuals of T. vittata collected from four
different freshwater habitats in Bangladesh with specific
geographical locations.
Figure 1: Map of Occurrences of T. vittata in Bangladesh.
Blue lines indicate rivers. Black and red dots represent
sampling stations where the collections were done in 2017
and 2018 respectively.
Figure 2: T. vittata specimen collected from the
Buriganga River on 14 December 2017 at 11:40 am.
Morphometric measurements of T. vittata are shown in Table 2.
Average total length, standard length, pre-dorsal length, pre-orbit-
al length, post-orbital length, and inter-orbital lengths were 5.3 cm,
3.64 cm, 2.36 cm, 0.36 cm, 0.67 cm and 0.42 cm respectively. The
108
Distribution and Taxonomic Study of a Newly Recorded Croaking Gourami, Trichopsis vittata (Cuvier, 1831) in Bangladesh

Meristic characters are the characteristics that are discrete, se-
rially repeated, and countable. Meristic counts for dorsal fin rays of
T. vittata ranged between 7-10, anal fin rays ranged between 31-34,
pectoral fin rays ranged as 9-11, pelvic fin rays ranged as 5-8 and
caudal fin rays ranged as 14-17. The average numbers of the mea-
sured rays were the same among the specimens collected from four
different water bodies (Table 3).
pelvic fin base length, dorsal fin base length, anal-fin base length,
and pectoral-fin base length were 2.17 cm, 1.95 cm, 1.5 cm, and 1.0
cm respectively.
Morphometric
Characteristics
Average Value
(cm)
Wilk’s Lambda
Total length 5.30 0.687
Standard length 3.64 0.501
Body Depth 1.30 0.357
Eye diameter 0.37 0.581
Pre-dorsal length 2.36 0.648
Pre-orbital length 0.36 0.698
Post-orbital length 0.67 0.461
Inter-Orbital length 0.42 0.115
Dorsal Fin base length 1.95 0.549
Pectoral Fin base length 1.00 0.275
Pelvic Fin base length 2.17 0.596
Anal fin base length 1.50 0.119
Table 2: Morphometric measurements of T. vittata
specimens collected during the study period.
Meristic
Characteristics
Populations
Buriganga
River
Feni
River
Muhuri
River
Kalidas
Paharia River
Dorsal fin rays 7-10 7-10 7-10 7-10
Anal fin rays 31-34 31-34 31-34 31-34
Pectoral fin rays 9-11 9-11 9-11 9-11
Pelvic fin rays 5-8 5-8 5-8 5-8
Caudal fin rays 14-17 14-17 14-17 14-17
Table 3: Meristic counts of the T. vittata specimens
collected during the study period.
The dorsal fin rays, pectoral fin rays, pelvic fin rays, and the
caudal fin rays were similar among the specimens collected from
different freshwater habitats located in different region. A similar
number fin rays were also recorded by Norén., et al. [11], Akash
and Hossain [6] and Islam., et al. [23]. Several studies reported that
the number of fin rays of the same species does not differ much
from each other [3,27,28].
There are about 24 exotic fish species found in the floodplains
and tributaries of the Ganges Delta. Exotic fish species have been
introduced in Bangladesh either due to aquarium release or de-
liberate aquaculture attempts and bio-control efforts. T. vittata is
a newer addition to the list and the source of introduction is still
unknown [6,11]. In the sampling areas around the River Buriganga,
this species was found in an incredibly low density in both the sam-
pling times, though in two different times of a year. On the other
hand, around the river Feni, Muhuri and Kalidas Paharia, the spe-
cies count was subsequently higher at different times of the year
than in Buriganga River. Plainly, the overall count of this species
was sufficient to prove their existence in these waters, proving
their biological information exceedingly valuable for further stud-
ies on them.
The presence of T. vittata was always associated with nearly
stagnant, freshwater habitats marked with zero salinity and rich
in submerged and floating vegetation. Previously this species was
recorded from the Meghna River and the Old Brahmaputra River. In
the river Buriganga, only about 25 species variants have survived
due to the terrible atrocities of mankind over nature and high
aquatic pollution which were 50 in number just ten years before.
In such an unfavorable condition with a higher level of pollution,
the existence of T. vittata is a surprising issue. Maybe this species
has managed to attain their existence and survival. This finding is
similar to the finding of Ng., et al. [29] and Li., et al. [30] where they
recorded T. vittata from heavily disturbed freshwater ecology with
lower pH and dissolved oxygen level. Li., et al. recorded T. vittata
from the stream containing 3.52 mg/L dissolved oxygen level [30].
Even it is unknown exactly either the T. vittata is found as a true
survivor or newly introduced. It can only be presumed that there is
a possibility that the species was released illegally but there is no
such evidence of that. There is strong controversy among the scien-
tists regarding their way and source of introduction. Norén., et al.
[11], who identified Trichopsis vittata from Bangladesh and Myan-
mar with scientific documentation for the first time, mentioned it
most likely an aquarium escape but another school [6] disagreed
to this opinion and opined their (T. vittata) establishment in Ban-
gladesh is owing to deliberate aquaculture attempts, acting as an
invasion vector. The sampling locations in the southeastern Feni-
Muhuri rivers system is far away from the main town and have no
direct connection with the river system. So there is no possibility of
introducing T. vittata in this region from aquarium escape. In addi-
tion, the local aquarium fish traders and fish farmers are not famil-
iar with this invasive fish species. Findings from this study strongly
discarded the previous opinions regarding the source of introduc-
tion of T. vittata in Bangladesh. Akash and Hossain [6] showed a
north-eastwardly colonization pattern of this fish over the last
years. Findings from the present study clearly indicate the quick
spreading of T. vittata across the whole country, rather than a single
spreading pattern. Although the exotic fish species are not harmful
in their native habitats, they must compete with native fish species
for food and habitats when they enter into a new environment as
they can spread very easily and quickly without being affected by
local enemies. Invasive fish species can cause great harm to native
biodiversity through herbivory, predation, competition, hybridiza-
tion, disease transmission and ecosystem alteration. Moreover,
they may alter ecosystem functioning, ecosystem services, commu-
nity structure, habitats, and food webs and nutrient fluxes.
109

Conclusion
Bibliography
T. vittata is a non-native fish species that has been recorded
from several water bodies in Bangladesh including the Meghna Riv-
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aquarium escape or intentionally for aquaculture purposes. This
fish is spreading very quickly across the country over the years
which will definitely affect the native fish biodiversity. However, the
impact of this species on other indigenous fish species is currently
unknown. The absence of data does not equate to a lack of effects.
T. vittata will compete for niche space and food with native species
which is a major threat to sustaining indigenous fishes. Further re-
search needs to enhance our understanding of geographic ranges,
behavioral interactions, and impacts of T. vittata on the native fish
biodiversity.
Acknowledgement
We would like to express our gratitude to the Faunal Survey and
Enrichment of Facilities for Biodiversity Research Sub-project (CP-
2216), HEQEP, UGC, Bangladesh and World Bank for the financial
support. We also want to acknowledge all the researchers and staff
of FSEFBR/HEQEP (CP-2216) for their great support during data
collection and data processing.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that there is economic interest or any other
conﬂicts of interest regarding the publication of this article. The
funding bodies had no role in the study design, data collection, data
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