CDS (I) 2020 General Knowledge · Question 98 of 120

Correct — C, Bangladesh. Hilsa, called ilish in Bengali, is the national fish of Bangladesh, and the claim is backed by more than sentiment. The fish accounts for about twelve per cent of Bangladesh's total fish production, and Bangladesh supplies roughly ninety-seven per cent of the world's ilish. In August 2017 the country's Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks recognised it as a Geographical Indication of Bangladesh. Hilsa is anadromous — it lives in the sea and runs up rivers to breed — and the Padma and Meghna runs are the heart of the fishery, which is why the fish is bound up with Bengali food, festivals and even diplomacy.

• (a)Pakistan — Hilsa does occur in Pakistani waters, in the Indus and off the Sindh coast, but Pakistan's national animal is the markhor and its national bird the chukar partridge. It has no national fish claim on the hilsa.
• (b)India — The most tempting option, because hilsa is prized in West Bengal, Odisha and Assam and India is one of the three largest producers. India's national aquatic animal, however, is the Ganges river dolphin, declared in 2009 — a mammal, not a fish, and the only such national designation India has in the water.
• (d)Nepal — Landlocked, with no run of a sea-going fish up its rivers. Nepal's national animal is the cow and its national bird the Himalayan monal.

National symbols are official designations made by a government, and they are worth learning by country rather than by animal, because the same species often matters culturally in several countries while carrying official status in only one. Hilsa is the standard example in South Asia — eaten and celebrated across the Bengal delta on both sides of the border, but the national fish of only one of the two countries that share it.

The reliable elimination here is India, because India's own aquatic designation is a dolphin rather than a fish, and Nepal, because a fish that spends most of its life at sea cannot be a landlocked country's emblem. Beyond the exam, hilsa is a working example of a shared fishery — Bangladesh has at times suspended and then resumed exports to India around the Durga Puja season, and its conservation rules include closed seasons and bans on catching juvenile fish, which is why production figures shift from year to year.

• Hilsa, Tenualosa ilisha, is the national fish of Bangladesh.
• It makes up about twelve per cent of Bangladesh's total fish production, and Bangladesh accounts for around ninety-seven per cent of the world's supply.
• Bangladesh recognised ilish as a Geographical Indication on 6 August 2017.
• The species is recorded from eleven countries, including India, Myanmar, Pakistan and Iran; Bangladesh is the largest producer, followed by Myanmar and India.
• India's national aquatic animal is the Ganges river dolphin, declared in 2009.

• Answering India because hilsa is a Bengali delicacy; cultural attachment is not official status.
• Assuming India's national aquatic animal is a fish — it is the Ganges river dolphin, a mammal.
• Confusing a Geographical Indication tag with national-symbol status; hilsa has both, but from the same country.

As a national-symbol matching item, or embedded in a statements question on migratory fish and their conservation.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following has been declared the national aquatic animal of India?

  • (a)Olive ridley turtle
  • (b)Ganges river dolphin
  • (c)Gharial
  • (d)Saltwater crocodile

  Answer(b) Ganges river dolphin — declared India's national aquatic animal in 2009, and a species listed in Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) is best described as

  • (a)a purely freshwater fish
  • (b)an anadromous fish that breeds in rivers and lives mainly in the sea
  • (c)a catadromous fish that breeds in the sea and lives in rivers
  • (d)a deep-sea fish that never enters rivers

  Answer(b) an anadromous fish that breeds in rivers and lives mainly in the sea — its runs up the Padma, Meghna and Hooghly are the basis of the fishery.