MASHEER SPECIES

Subject : Environment

Context : Recent surveys done by the Wildlife Association of South India (WASI) indicate that the population of the Masheer species in the Moyar is likely to be genetically pure owing to its isolation.

Concept :

• Largest and hardest fighting freshwater fish in the world, the majestic hump-backed mahseer, once a prize catch for anglers, is on the verge of extinction.
• The hump-backed mahseer is a large freshwater fish also called the tiger of the water and found only in the Cauvery river basin including Kerala’s Pambar, Kabini and Bhavani rivers.
• It is now “Critically Endangered”: more threatened than the tiger is, as per the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species.
• The inclusion was possible only once the fish got its scientific name last June—Tor remadevii.