A Survey on Fish Diversity of Ishob River in the Khahan District of Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan

Abstract

The present survey was conducted in the Ishob River of Khahan District, situated in the Badakhshan Province of Afghanistan. The study was carried out spring and summer seasons of 2025 by using a variety of fishing nets, like dragnets, hooks, and gill nets. During the survey, a total of 140 fish specimens were collected from all three sampling regions. As a result, the Nori Darah region had the highest number of collected fish (44.28%), followed by the Qaria-e-Tang region (31.42%), and the least number of fish (24.28%) was collected from the Pool-e-Ishob region. We found that Schizothorax curvifrons is the most abundant species with 37.85% in all three sites, followed by Glyptothorax cavia with 34.5%, Salmo trutta with 22.14%, and Paracobitis longicauda was less abundant species in the three sampling regions with 17.14%. In conclusion, four fish species, S curvifrons, G cavia, S trutta, and P longicauda were documented in this survey.