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Diversity and genetic structure of freshwater shark Wallago attu: an emerging species of commercial interest

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Abstract

Pakistan has natural freshwater resources acting as a hotspot for diverse fish fauna. However, this aquatic fauna is declining at an alarming rate due to over-exploitation, habitat degradation, water pollution, climate change, and certain anthropogenic activities. The freshwater shark, Wallago attu, is a popular edible catfish inhabiting these freshwater ecosystems. Habitat degradation, overfishing, and human activities are heavily impacting the natural population of this species. So, sound knowledge about its population structure is necessary for its proper management in natural waters. The current study involves utilizing two mtDNA markers (COI, Cytb) to assess the genetic structure and differentiation among W. attu populations of Pakistani Rivers. Genetic variability analysis indicated a high haplotype (0.343 ± 0.046–0.870 ± 0.023) and low nucleotide diversity (0.0024 ± 0.012–0.0038 ± 0.018) among single and combined gene sequences, respectively. Overall, River Indus was populated with more diverse fauna of Wallago attu as compared to River Chenab and River Ravi. Population pairwise, Fst values (0.40–0.61) were found to be significantly different (p < 0.01) among three Riverine populations based upon combined gene sequences. The gene flow for the combined gene (COI + Cytb) dataset among three populations was less than 1.0. The transition/transversion bias value R (0.58) was calculated for testing of neutral evolution, and it declared low genetic polymorphism among natural riverine populations of Wallago attu. The current study’s findings would be meaningful in planning the management and conservation of this economically important catfish in future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Government College University Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

    Shahid Sherzada & Saeed Akram Khan

  2. Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

    Shahid Sherzada & Nimra Hussain

  3. Institute of Zoology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Ali Hussain

  4. Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt

    Mohamed A. M. El-Tabakh

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  1. Shahid Sherzada
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SS wrote the main manuscript. SS and SAK collected samples. SS and NH completed lab work. MAME performed data analysis, and AH reviewed the final draft of the manuscript. All authors have thoroughly read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Shahid Sherzada.

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Sherzada, S., Hussain, N., Hussain, A. et al. Diversity and genetic structure of freshwater shark Wallago attu: an emerging species of commercial interest. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 15571–15579 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32117-3

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