The presentation discusses the biology of the rohu fish (Labeo rohita). Key points: - Rohu is a commercially important species in Bangladesh and other parts of Asia. - It is an omnivorous, column feeding fish found in rivers, ponds, and floodplains. - The fish reaches sexual maturity at 3 years and breeds during the monsoon season, laying hundreds of thousands of eggs. - Rohu plays an important role ecologically and is also a highly valued food fish, though its populations have declined from overfishing in rivers. It remains widely cultured in aquaculture.

1. Group: A
Presentation Topic: Biology of Fin
Fish (Labeo rohita)

2. Group members:
1. MD. Abu Noman Zisan
2. MD. Jakir Hossain
3. MD. Azizul Haque
4. Hasan Ali Sarkar
5. Nishadi Afrin
6. Faruk Sordar
7. K.M Zobayer
8. Kawser Ahmed
9. Joy Kumar Roy
10. Nazmul Hosen

3. Introduction
 Scientific name: Labeo rohita F.
Hamilton, 1822
 Synonyms: Cyprinus rohita: Hamilton-
Buchanan, 1822. Labeo rohita: Day,
1878; Bhuiyan, 1964; Shaw and
Shebbeare, 1937. Labeo horai: Fowler,
1924.
 Common name: Rohu (English name)
 Bangla name: Rui, Rohit, Rou

4. Taxonomic position:
 Phylum: Chordata
 Class: Osteichthyes
 Order: Cypriniformes
 Family: Cyprinidae
 Sub family: Cyprininae
 Genus: Labeo
 Species: L. rohita

5. Morphological description:
 Body moderately elongated.
 Dorsal profile more convex than the ventral
profile.
 Snout obtuse, projecting over the mouth,
without any lateral lobe.
 Eyes are small, not visible from the
underside of the head.
 No pores on the snout.
 Mouth small, inferior, lips thick and fringed
with a distinct inner fold to each lip.
 Post labial grove continuous.

6. Morphological description
 A cartilaginous part is covering to inside of both lips.
 A pair of short maxillary barbells is present.
 Body color is back brownish, silvery on sides and beneath.
 Dorsal and abdominal profiles are convex. Caudal peduncle is short.
 Lateral line is complete. Scales are moderate. The description is quite
similar to Rahman, 2005; Talwar and Jhingran, 2001 and Bhuiyan, 1964.
 Fins greyish or dark, pectoral fin dusky. Color varies in fishes, those living
among weeds exhibiting greenish- black on back (Talwar and Jhingran
1991.)
 Fin formula: D. 3/12-13, P1.16-17, P2. 9. A. 2/5 (Rahman, 2005)

7. Habit and Habitat
 Labeo is column feeder at mid water. Prefers to feed on plant
matters including decaying vegetation (Talwar and Jhingran
1991.)
 Its food comprises crustaceous and insect larvae in early
stages (Mookerjee et al., 1946).
 Labeo rohita takes small percentages of mud which contains
organic matter and various salts. This species is available
throughout Bangladesh. Ponds, rivers, rivulets are its main
habitats (Bhuiyan, 1964).

8. Food and Feeding
 Carp are omnivorous, and their diet varies
depending on what is available.
 Food of Rohu may contain algae, higher
plants, protozoans, insect larvae,
crustaceans, mud and sand (Mukherjee, et
al., 1946)
 In culture condition the species also feeds on
supplementary fish food, namely rice bran,
wheat bran and oil cake (Rahman, 2005).

9. Reproduction
 It can be induced to breed by administration of pituitary
hormone when artificial culture.
 Spawning season generally coincides with the south-west
monsoon (May to July)
 It spawns in the shallow water of the river and streams.
 Usually attains sexual maturity in 3 years.
 It is a prolific breeder and fecund from 260,972 to
29,84,024 eggs (Rahman, 2005)

10. Distribution
 Fresh water bodies of North and Central
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh; the Terai
region of Nepal and Myanmar. It has
been introduced in many countries,
including Bhutan, Mainland China,
Japan, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius,
Philippines, Sri Lank, Thailand, Vietnam
and Zimbabwe.

11. Breeding time
 Rui attains maturity towards the end of the second year in
ponds.
 The spawning season of Rui generally coincides with the
southwest monsoon.
 Spawning takes place in flooded rivers (Bhuiyan, 1964).

12. Economic Importance
 Rohu is the most abundant among the species
of Genus Labeo, a commercially important
species and preferred as a food fish throughout
the Bangladesh and other countries.
 Rui is regarded an excellent game fish and
seems to put up a better fight in a river than in a
tank.
 A number of inter specific and inter generic
hybrids have been produced.
 It is very delicious food and supplies a huge
amount of protein for the people (Rahman,
2005)

13. Ecological Role
 Middle dweller fish species. Sometimes come to the
surface and bottom layer for finding food (Bhuiyan, 1964)
 L. Rohita is a column and bottom feeder and feeds mainly
on plant matter and decaying vegetation and does not
compete with other carps for food and space.

14. Status and conservation
 Very common and widely distributed species in
Bangladesh. Not considered as threatened in the red list
IUCN Bangladesh (2000).
 L. rohita along with other members of the major carps used
to contribute over 60% of the total catch from river, bills and
Haors of Bangladesh during the mid- 1950s.
 The major part of the carp catch currently comes from
aquaculture.

15. Marketing status:
 Almost all the rohu produced from aquaculture is consumed in local markets.
 Post-harvest processing is almost non-existent. Rohu is a highly preferred
carp and fetches comparatively high market prices.
 In most areas, they are either marketed fresh in the local market or carried to
nearby urban markets with ice.
 However, locally-produced fresh fish fetches about one and half times higher
market price than iced fish.
 Furthermore, when sold live, the market value increases over two-fold
compared to iced fish. Governmental regulation and control over the
domestic marketing system for these aquaculture products are almost non-
existent; thus the market price is influenced mainly by demand and supply.

16. Remarks
 There is a proverb, “Macher Raja Rui, Saker Raja pui”
 There is long tradition of its use a delicious food item in the
matrimonial function of the Hindus in Bangladesh.
 The fish a long live span of 10 years.
 It is also good game fish.
 The species is also infected by four species of
ectoparasites of the genus Lernaea.

17. Reference
 Encyclopedia of FLORA AND FAUNA OF BANGLADESH, Freshwater
fishes, volume 23.
 Fresh water fishes of Bangladesh, A.K Ataur Rahman, 2005
 Fish and fisheries, Pandey, Shukla, 2nd edition.
 www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohu
 http://en.bdfish.org/2010/02/rohu-labeo-rohita/
 http://www.fao.org/fishery/culturedspecies/Labeo_rohita/en#tcNA0078