River Ganga being the largest river of India supports the richest ichthyofaunal diversity of the country as well as
productivity and harbours many rare and endemic species of fishes. One main threat to native fishes of Ganga is alteration of its
hydrologic pattern by construction of dams and barrages over the river. Very well-known Farakka barrage Project (FBP) is one
such construction over river Ganga at Murshidabad, which came into effect in 1975. The present study focuses on to find
whether any notable difference can be found between the upstream and downstream stretch of Ganga divided by the barrage. A
total of 81 species were found in the river Ganga at the upstream and downstream of Farakka barrage. There are 93% similarity
in alpha diversity of ichthyofauna in between Ganga stretch of Malda (upstream of Farakka) and Murshidabad (downstream of
Farakka) district. A number of exotic species are also found.
