Abstract
Present study was conducted to assess fish species availability in the Rupsha River during February 2012 to January 2013. A total of 64 species of fish under 11 orders and 30 families were documented during the study period. Perciformes was the most dominant order constituting 34.38% of the total fish population followed by the Cypriniformes (25%), Siluriformes (18.75%), Clupeiformes (4.69%), Synbranchiformes (4.69%), Mugiliformes (3.13%) and Tetraodontiformes (3.13%). Osteoglossiformes, Beloniformes, Anguiliformes, and Aulopiformes were the least numerous orders constituting only 1.56% each of the total fish population. Among them, 5 species were vulnerable, 8 species were endangered and only 1 species were critically endangered. In addition, 48.43% of the available fishes are categorized as rare or very rare in the present study while only 23.44% species were available in large quantities throughout the year.