Fishermen catch non-native fish in Kharasrota

Kendrapada: A fisherman in Jajpur district netted a non-native rare suckermouth catfish in the Kharasrota river on Thursday. The fish has four eyes and a long spine.“On Thursday morning, we cast our nets in the river for our daily catch and when we were pulling the net, we realised that the rare big fish has been trapped. Once on board, we realized that we have got a rare suckermouth fish locally called Janitor fish. The news spread like wildfire at the riverside village,” said Debashis Pati, a fisherman of Simulia village.“Suckermouth (Hypostomus plecostomus) catfish are of little or no value as food. The fish are native to the tropical waters of South America half a world away. Suckermouth is listed as an invasive species in India and regulations sometimes apply to their import, breeding, and sale. It is highly discouraged to keep them in personal aquariums or release them into natural water bodies,” said Dipani Sutaria, a noted biologist and researcher.“Suckermouth catfish is the worst invasive species affecting our water bodies. They don’t die easily, eat other fishes and their eggs, and destroy water bodies. This fish species even grows and breeds in extremely polluted water, where the level of dissolved oxygen is far below acceptable levels. Originally found in the Amazon Basin, this invasive fish is believed to have spread across South Asia, including India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar,” she added.