Small mud carps or “Trey Riel” (Henicorhynchus entmema and H. siamensis) are the most commercially important keystone species in Cambodia, according to Wonders of the Mekong project. 

These two species are also very important to the ecology of the Mekong River basin and the food security for people living in the region, it underlined. 

A recent study by Wonders of the Mekong Researchers analysed the distribution of these two fish species across Cambodia from fish catch records collected at 22 sites from 2007-2015, said the same source, adding that the study found that the two species differed in the locations where they were most abundant, and also declined in some locations while remaining stable at others.

The study results have strong implications for how to manage these species to support ecosystems and food security in the region, it pointed out. 

Particularly, it continued, fisheries management and conservation planning should focus on those areas hosting high abundance for each species (e.g., some sites in the Tonle Sap River and Mekong mainstream for H. entmema, and some sites in the Mekong Delta and southern areas of the Tonle Sap Lake for H. siamensis), and should support important habitats, such as by maintaining seasonal and predictable water flow in the Lower Mekong Basin.

Source: Agency Kampuchea Press