Description

Benthos is defined as that assemblage of animal living in or on the sediments and dependent upon the decomposition cycle for most if not all of its basic food supply from a major component of any aquatic ecosystem. It serves as the primary source for many species of commercially and recreationally important fishes. Benthos is good indicators of localized condition of water quality due to their limited mobility. They are of fundamental important to the economy of aquatic environment as they taken part in the nutrient release from the bottom sediments into the overlying waters so as to enrich the water bodies. The potential of fish production of an aquatic environment is often evaluated from the volume or number of macro-invertebrate benthos. It plays a critical role in the natural flow of energy and nutrients. Benthic organisms are rice in amino-acids, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals etc. Benthos is not only the important food item of fishes, but also an indicator of productivity of a waterbed.