A preliminary freshwater fish checklist and distribution of Penang Integrated Agriculture Development Authority Irrigation Canal System, Malaysia (Seberang Perai Utara Case Study).

A preliminary study of fish inventory within Seberang Perai Utara (SPU) and Penang Integrated Agriculture Development Authority (IADA) irrigation canals system was conducted at six different sampling stations by using three sets of cast net from October 2011 to February 2012. In situ water parameters indicated that SPU and IADA irrigation canals are in good and healthy condition that support a lot of aquatic organisms such as fishes. A total of 22 species consisted of 11 families with 942 specimens was captured and identified during the study period. Cyprinidae is the dominant family recorded, which represents 45.6% of the total number of species recorded followed by Bagridae and Osphronemidae (9.2 % each) and another eight fish families with 4.5 % each. The first five dominant species can be found at all sampling stations. The species are Osteochilus hasseltii, which represents 27.3% of the total specimens captured followed by Pristolepis fasciatus (18.6%), Puntius altus (16.0%), Anabas testudineus (13.1%) and Cyclocheilichthys apogon (10.3%). This study also showed that armored catfish (Hypostomus plecostomus) has been widely distributed in Penang IADA irrigation canals that three out of six sampling stations are positive recorded. This inventory study should be extended and continued as the species checklist present here is a preliminary checklist that is yet to cover the entire Penang IADA irrigation canals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]