Accurate Identification of genetic resources is necessary for detecting new species and
varieties for products of commercial value. Fish, as a group, apart from their economic value
from a biodiversity viewpoint, have the highest species diversity among all vertebrate taxa.
They exhibit enormous diversity in size, shape, biology and in the habitats they occupy.
In terms of habitat diversity, fishes live in almost all conceivable aquatic habitats, ranging
from Antarctic waters to desert springs. Of the 62,305 species of vertebrates recognized
world over, 34,090 (nearly 52%) are valid fish species; a great majority of them (97 %) are
bony fishes and the remaining (3 %) are cartilaginous (sharks and rays) and jawless fishes
(lampreys and hagfishes). Further, on an average, 300 new fish species are described each
year, and global surveys indicate that there could well be at least 5,000 species more to be
discovered
