An annotated Bibliography on the breeding habits and development of fishes of the Indian region

Abstract

This 'Foreword' should serve as a preface also since I happen to be one of the authors of this Bulletin. Some personal reference, therefore is unavoidable. My association with investigations relating to breeding habits and development of fishes goes back to a period of about three and a half decades and despite exigencies of service and vicissitudes of official career it had been possible to maintain contact with the subject more or less uninterruptedly. At the time of initiation of work in this field the scattered and sketchy nature of the relevant literature became evident and the need for bringing them together and reviewing them was keenly felt. An attempt was made in this direction resulting in the account entitled "Breeding habits and development of Indian freshwater and brackishwater fishes" which was published by me in 1946 in two parts in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. This, I should say, was well received and soon after, with the change of assignment to fisheries research after a decade of service as an entomologist, it became possible for me to carry on work on the life-histories of fishes as a routine rather than as a hobby. With the literature collected till then two fairly comprehensive bibliographies entitled "Bibliography of breeding habits and development of fishes of inland waters of India" and "Bibliography of breeding habits and development of estuarine and marine fishes of India" were published in 1950 and 1951 respectively in the Journal of the Zoological Society of India. Incidentally it may be stated that these were the first bibliographies to be published in fisheries and marine sciences in the Indian Region and could be said to have paved the way for others.