Southwestern Sri Lanka rivers and streams

Southwestern Sri Lanka rivers and streams is a freshwater

Freshwater

Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...

ecoregion

Ecoregion

An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...

in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

. The ecoregion is listed in Global 200

Global 200

The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by the World Wildlife Fund as priorities for conservation. According to the WWF, an ecoregion is defined as a "relatively large unit of land or water containing a characteristic set of natural communities that share a large majority of their...

, a list of ecoregions compiled by the World Wide Fund for Nature

World Wide Fund for Nature

The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...

for conservation priorities.
The extensive network of rivers and streams of Sri Lanka drains a total of 103 distinct natural river basins. Several waterfall habitats have been formed as a result of rivers and streams flowing through high and mid elevation areas. The ecoregion spreads over 15,500 km² in the wet zone of the southwestern part of Sri Lanka. More than a quarter of the freshwater fish

Freshwater fish

Freshwater fish are fish that spend some or all of their lives in freshwater, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 0.05%. These environments differ from marine conditions in many ways, the most obvious being the difference in levels of salinity...

es that have been discovered in Southwestern Sri Lanka rivers and streams are endemic. Nine endemic genera of freshwater fishes of Western Ghats

Western Ghats

The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...

and Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

hotspot

Biodiversity hotspot

A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with a significant reservoir of biodiversity that is under threat from humans.The concept of biodiversity hotspots was originated by Norman Myers in two articles in “The Environmentalist” , revised after thorough analysis by Myers and others in...

Malpulutta

Malpulutta is a genus of fish in the Osphronemidae family. It contains the following species:* ornate paradisefish...

are found only in Sri Lanka. Studies suggest that the number of species still to be discovered is quite high. Until recently wetlands in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

were used for drainage, construction sites and land fills.

Biodiversity

Diverse types of plants, fish and mussel

Mussel

The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...

s are supported by rivers and streams that flow through this region, sourced in the central highlands. Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

harbors 90 species of freshwater fish

Freshwater fish

and 21 species of crab

Crab

True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...

s. Twenty six species of fish are confined to this ecoregion. As unraveling of new species is continuing, the number of endemics is expected to rise greatly. Most of these fishes are small and specialized to their rivers and streams. Some of the fish species inhabiting this ecoregion include Two Spot Barb, Black ruby barb

Black ruby barb

The black ruby barb or purplehead barb is a tropical fish belonging to the minnow family . Originating from Sri Lanka in forested streams from the Kelani basin to the Nilwala basin, they are found in streams on hills around 1000 ft in elevation...

, Cherry barb

Cherry barb

The cherry barb, Puntius titteya is a tropical fish belonging to the spotted barb genus of the Cyprinidae family. It is native to Sri Lanka, and introduced populations have become established in Mexico and Colombia. The cherry barb was named Puntius titteya by Paul E. P. Deraniyagala in 1929...

and Black-lined Barb. More rare species in this ecoregion include Spotted Loach

Spotted Loach

The Spotted Loach is a species of ray-finned fish in the Cobitidae family.It is found only in Sri Lanka.-References:* Pethiyagoda, R. 1996. . Downloaded on 19 July 2007....

, Ornate paradisefish

Ornate paradisefish

The ornate paradisefish is a species of fish in the Osphronemidae family. It is endemic to Sri Lanka.-Source:* Pethiyagoda, R. 1996. . Downloaded on 4 August 2007....

, Rasbora wilpita

Rasbora wilpita

Wilpita rasbor or Rasbora wilpita is a species of ray-finned fish in the Cyprinidae family.It is found only in Sri Lanka.-Source:* Pethiyagoda, R. 1996. . Downloaded on 19 July 2007....

, Puntius martenstyni

Puntius martenstyni

Martenstyn's Barb is a species of ray-finned fish in the Cyprinidae family.It is found only in Sri Lanka.-Source:* Pethiyagoda, R. 1996. . Downloaded on 19 July 2007....

and Pearly rasbora. Many of the fishes of this ecoregion have commercial value

Commercial fishing

Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often pursue fish far into the ocean under adverse conditions...

and are harvested in fisheries

Fishery

Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...

and traded for aquarium

Aquarium

An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...

s. Apart from fishes, this ecoregion is also rich with crocodile

Crocodile

A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...

s, turtle

Turtle

Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...

s and amphibian

Amphibian

Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...

Human impact

Forests in this ecoregion are cleared for tea

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

and rubber

Rubber

Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...

plantations. Poaching

Poaching

Poaching is the illegal taking of wild plants or animals contrary to local and international conservation and wildlife management laws. Violations of hunting laws and regulations are normally punishable by law and, collectively, such violations are known as poaching.It may be illegal and in...

and the extraction of timber are problems even in protected areas, resulting in habitat fragmentation and edge effects. Farmers have changed some of the slow moving waterways into rice fields. Black ruby barb

Black ruby barb

and Cherry barb

Cherry barb

populations are being reduced due to the ornamental fish trade. Competition with introduced alien fish and plants poses a threat to native species. Using agrochemicals unrestrictedly poses a different threat to the ecosystem and to species groups such as amphibians. Rainbow trout

Rainbow trout

The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....

, Clown knifefish, Walking catfish

Walking catfish

The walking catfish, Clarias batrachus, is a species of freshwater airbreathing catfish found primarily in Southeast Asia, so named for its ability to "walk" across dry land, to find food or suitable environments...

and Red-eared slider

Red-eared slider

The red-eared slider is a semiaquatic turtle belonging to the family Emydidae. It is a subspecies of pond slider. It is the most popular pet turtle in the United States and also popular in the rest of the world...

are some of the invasive species
causing direct exploitation or destruction. There is some protection in place for central highland water courses in the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary and Horton Plains National Park

Horton Plains National Park

Horton Plains National Park is a protected area in the central highlands of Sri Lanka and is covered by montane grassland and cloud forest. This plateau at an altitude of is rich in biodiversity and many species found here are endemic to the region. This region was designated a national park in...

External links

Wildworld ecoregion profile

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