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Cauvery, Krishna and Godavary rivers constitute the major three river systems in South India. Geologically they are much older than the Ganga, Indus and Brahmaputra rivers of Northen lndia. The economic prosperity of the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka is closely intertwined with the water supply and potentialities of these three rivers. Since historical times their waters have been extensively utilised for agriculture, fisheries, irrigation and navigation purposes. In recent years they have been further subjected to many multi-purpose hydro-electric and other utilitarian projects.
Despite all such importance, unfortunately not much attention has been given to these rivers especially in respect of their bio-resources. Their faunistic content and composition is very poorly known. Except some scattered piece-meal work, no consolidated account of their aquatic fauna is known. Under a long-term programme of an assessment of the bio-resources of these three rivers, a survey of the Cauvery river, was undertaken first and is reported here.
