Current status of rainbow trout in Western Ghats, Southern India: A fish diversity and water quality assessment study

Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were introduced in the Western Ghats region of Munnar and Ooty in South India. After introduction, the population status had been declining greatly in many water bodies of these two geographical locations with no reports after 1970 from Munnar and after 1998 from Ooty. Therefore, this study was done to know the fish diversity, water quality and angling evidence in the following sites, namely Devikulam lake, Letchmi lake, Kaniamallay stream, Lakkam Stream, Madupatty and Kundale reservoirs of Munnar, Avalanche lake of Ooty and also to know the habitat suitability for the trout population in the sites mentioned. The water quality for all the water bodies was fair, good and marginal category according to the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment - Water Quality Index and two sites were suitable for trout life (Lakkam stream of Munnar and Avalanche lake of Ooty) while the others were not found suitable for trout and good catch records were collected by interviewing anglers and the population had vanished from maximum sites.