Bappa Biswas¹ , Deepra Ghosh² , Surajit Dutta³ , Sanjeev Kumar Verma³ , Sajalendu Ghosh³

1Research Scholar, Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee University, Ranchi, Jharkhand 834008, India
2Research Scholar, Department of Statistics, Fox School of Business, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA-19122, USA
3Assistant Professor, Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee University, Ranchi, Jharkhand 834008, India
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2026, Vol. 16, No. 5   
Received: 26 Jul., 2026    Accepted: 25 Aug., 2026    Published: 10 Sep., 2026

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Headwater streams are the backbone of healthy, functioning river systems, but many tropical plateau rivers in Eastern India have been less studied. Here, we provide an integrated assessment of seasonal water quality, ichthyofaunal diversity, ecological status, and human-environment interactions in the upper catchment of a lateritic headwater basin of the Sankh River within India's Chotanagpur Plateau. Multivariate analyses revealed distinct seasonal hydrochemical patterns, with PCA explaining 91.65% of the total variance (PC1 = 60.05%, PC2 = 31.60%), MANOVA confirming highly significant seasonal differences (Pillai's Trace = 1.963, F = 159.8, P = 2.697 × 10⁻¹⁰), hierarchical clustering separating samples into three season-specific groups, and Water Quality Index (WQI) values of 22.1, 25.6, and 23.4 for summer, monsoon, and winter, respectively, consistently classified the upper Sankh River as having excellent water quality, suggesting limited anthropogenic influence in the upper catchment. Rainy periods are accompanied by greater surface runoff, which moves nutrients and dissolved solids into the water at high intensities. In winter conditions, the temperatures are cooler, more stable, and have higher levels of dissolved oxygen. Fish diversity was moderate, species were evenly distributed, and rheophilic fishes predominated, suggesting the presence of well-oxygenated, structurally stable habitats. Field observations also showed how protected Sal forests, indigenous livelihoods, and riverine ecosystems together form an integrated socio-ecological landscape that promotes hydrological stability as well as biodiversity conservation. Overall, the study provides a baseline for long-term conservation and shows that the observed hydrochemical patterns and ecological characteristics are consistent with an important influence of natural environmental controls. By integrating seasonal hydrochemical variability, ecological integrity, and socio-ecological characteristics, this first-ever study on river Sankh establishes a scientific baseline to support long-term monitoring, ecological conservation, and sustainable management of tropical plateau headwater river systems.

Headwater streams; WQI; Rheophilic fishes; Multivariate analysis; Chotanagpur plateau