An Aid To The Identification Of The Common Commercial Fishes Of India And Pakistan

Considerable advances have been made in the systematics of the fishes of India and the neighbouring countries since the publication of F. Day’s Fishes of India (1878) and his two volumes on Fishes in the Fauna of British India series (1889). With the introduction of the International Rules of Zoological Nomenclature, several of the generic and specific names as found in Day’s works have become invalid. Furthermore, due to classificatory changes many of the families as given in Day are now split up. For example, the Siluridae of Day now consists of the families Ariidae, Plotosidae, Siluridae, Bagridae, Amblycepitidae, Akysidae, Sisoridae, Chacidae, Schilbeidae, Saccobranchidae, Clariidae and Oly-ridae. The same may be said with regard to many of the composite genera and species found in Day. Thus, Day’s books, while remaining important landmarks in Indian ichthyology, especially with regard to the description and illustration of the majority of the species, are not to-day of much practical use to the student of ichthyology