A field guide put together by two native freshwater fish enthusiasts and released on the occasion of the Madras Day on Saturday, has documented fish found in Chennai’s waterbodies and has explored the city’s long cultural connection with fish, including their presence and importance in ancient Tamil literature.
The comprehensive visual and practical field guide Fishes of Chennai by Aravind Manoj and Beta Mahatvaraj aims to make identification of fish species easier, as it groups species on the body type and habitat preference. It has profiled over 100 species and has featured about 150 photographs.
“Chennai’s rivers, lakes, temple tanks, and estuaries are full of fish, and until now no single book had named them all. This one does. It’s the first field guide to the freshwater and brackish fishes of the city and its surroundings. Inside are more than 100 kinds, from the carps and catfish people know on sight to native species barely recorded anywhere else,” said Mr. Beta Mahatvaraj.
One need not be an expert to use the guide, he said. “The fish are sorted by what they look like, so you can match one to a photo and then read a short account of its size, its food, where it lives, and whether it’s in trouble. The book doesn’t stop at names. It marks which fish belong here and which were brought in. It records what the city’s waters are losing to pollution and vanished habitat.”
Published – August 23, 2026 12:27 am IST
