The present study was carried out to study the diet composition of freshwater crab, P. koolooense in hillstream Khoh of Uttarakhand during November, 2013 to October, 2014. Total 105 crab samples were used for the study, 35 male and 47 female were found with food in their stomach while rest of the 23 had empty stomachs. The carapace length (CL) ranged from 12mm to 49mm, carapace width (CW) from 15mm to 59mm and total weight (TW) from 2.08g to 60.12g. Stomach content analysis of the animal showed that the diet of the animal composed of animal matter, plant matter, algae, fungi, debris and unidentified materials. Animal matter ranged from (3.27-11.93%), plant matter (4.37-14.44%), algae (1.73-6.15%), fungi (0.17-1.43%), debris (28.18-40.47%) and unidentified materials (36.46-50.05%) in males while in the female animal matter ranged from (3.09-12.34%), plant matter (4.45-12.73%), algae (1.03-7.61%), fungi (0.02-3.34%), debris (23.18-43.34%) and unidentified (30.31-51.04%). Unidentified materials recorded maximum and fungi recorded minimum in both the sexes of Potamon koolooense. A significant difference was observed at p<0.05 between food groups- algae and unidentified matter in both sexes. This is the first report, to key out and quantifies the dietary items and feeding habits of crab in Uttarakhand which would be helpful in interpreting the ecological niche of the animal in mountain stream communities.

The ecological diversity of insects and its predators like amphibians are important determinants in ecological balance.  A total of 1,222 prey items in 84 specimens were examined to contribute the understanding of the diets of three Duttaphrynus species, viz., himalayanus, melanostictus, and stomaticus from Uttarakhand, the western Himalaya, India.  Gut content analysis of three bufonids revealed acceptance of a wide range of terrestrial insects and other invertebrates as their food.  The index of relative importance indicated that the most important preys were Formicidae, Coleoptera and Orthoptera.  Duttaphrynus melanostictus had the broadest dietary niche breadth, followed by D. himalaynus and D. stomaticus.  The wide prey spectrum well indicates that these species are the generalist and opportunist invertebrate feeder.  Information pertaining to the food spectrum analysis contributes to understanding the ecological roles and used as a baseline data for future successful amphibian conservation and management programs in the Himalayan ecosystem.

The aim of this study was to characterise physical and biochemical aspects of semen as well as to investigate the fine structure of spermatozoa of the Himalayan snowtrout Schizothorax plagiostomus Heckel, 1838 using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The species breed twice in a year and semen was collected during both seasons, i.e. from 24 males in February and March, 2015 and from 30 males in September and October, 2015. Size of the fish ranged from 13.5 to 36 cm in February-March and 12.3 to 38 cm in September-October. The mean milt volume (ml), sperm density (×1010 ml-1) and spermatocrit (%) values were 2.25±1.26, 2.22±0.53 and 78.87± 8.25 in February-March and 2.12±1.25, 2.12±0.52 and 75.54±8.23 in September-October respectively. Biochemical parameters of seminal plasma viz., total protein (g dl-1), carbohydrates (mg dl-1) and total lipids were 0.312±0.05, 1.348±0.07 and 26.4±2.23 in February-March and 0.340±0.05, 1.34±0.1 and 26.4±3.19 in September-October respectively. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy studies of sperm revealed that the sperm was composed of an ovoid shaped head without acrosome, ellipsoidal midpiece with mitochondria and tail or flagellum. Flagellum had a typical 9+2 axoneme arrangement. The mean length (μm) of head, midpiece, flagella and total length of sperm were 1.82±0.24, 0.35±0.07, 20.18±0.79 and 22.3±3 respectively. For both the breeding seasons, sperm motility decreased significantly with time post-activation.

Abstract:The quantitative osteological study has been conducted on a Hillstream bottom feeder fish Crossocheilus latius latius. C. latius latius is a common hillstream fish of Snowfed Rivers of Alaknanda. The bones have been taken from different sized fishes ranged from 13 to 27 Cm in length and 39 to 132 gm in weight. The correlation is applied between Body Weight and the Weight of different disarticulated bones of C. latius latius. The correlation (r) is highly significant among the different parameter of body in relation to osteology which ranged from r = 0.952; P< 0.1 to r = 0.999; P< 0.1.

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