IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC), Freshwater Fish Specialist Group

The Western Ghats is one of the world’s most heavily populated biodiversity hotspots providing for and supporting 400 million people through water for drinking, transport, irrigation, and hydroelectric power, together with food and resources to sustain livelihoods.

One of the main reasons cited for inadequate representation of biodiversity in the development processes is a lack of readily available information on inland water taxa. In response to this need for basic for information on species, the IUCN Species Programme conducted a regional assessment of the status and distribution of 2,261 taxa of freshwater fishes, molluscs, odonates, crabs and selected families of aquatic plants from throughout central Africa.

This reference work covering 546 native and 33 introduced species is a very important contribution on the biodiversity of freshwater fish species in Europe. Much of the information presented is drawn from original research conducted over 8 years in 24 European countries.