Rajeev Raghavan is a fisheries scientist and aquatic conservation biologist known for his work on the freshwater fishes of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Fisheries Resource Management,

Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies The Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) is a university established by the Government of Kerala devoted to studies in fisheries and ocean sciences. The bill seeking to establish the university was passed by the Kerala Legis ...

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

, India, and the South Asia Chair of the IUCN’s Freshwater Fish Specialist Group.

Education and Career

After completing his undergraduate and graduate degrees in

Aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

, and a PhD in Fish Ecology, Rajeev received his postdoctoral training, and worked as a visiting/guest researcher at various universities in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Prior to his current appointment with the

(KUFOS),

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, Rajeev also worked as a Lecturer in Fisheries Science at the St. Albert's College,

(where he also co-founded the Conservation Research Group, a multidisciplinary network of conservation biologists working on various aspects of the

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

of the Western Ghats), and also held affiliate positions at the

Zoo Outreach Organisation Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO), India started off as an NGO primarily focusing on training zoo staff and bettering the circumstances of captive animals in Indian zoos. It has since evolved into an overall nature and wildlife conservation NGO, and ...

(ZOO), Coimbatore, India.

Research

Since 2003, Rajeev has been involved in interdisciplinary research that generates information to support conservation decision making in tropical aquatic ecosystems, particularly in the Western Ghats Biodiversity Hotspot. His work cuts across multiple disciplines from

systematics Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: cladograms, phylogenetic tre ...

, to

molecular ecology Molecular ecology is a field of evolutionary biology that is concerned with applying molecular population genetics, molecular phylogenetics, and more recently genomics to traditional ecological questions (e.g., species diagnosis, conservation and ...

and

biogeography Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...

, freshwater fisheries and conservation policies. His research group is globally recognized for advancing the knowledge-base on understanding the diversity of freshwater fishes on the

, resulting in the discovery and description of 19 new species (including three new genera and two new families). Working with collaborators, he has also contributed to solving long-standing taxonomic and nomenclatural issues in Indian fish taxonomy. Dr. Rajeev is particularly known for his pioneering work that has helped improved our understanding of the diversity, distribution, and conservation of subterranean and

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

fish species of southern peninsular India. He has been involved in some of the most talked-after fish discoveries including the first subterranean snakehead ''Aenigmachanna gollum'' – a living fossil representing a unique family (Aenigmachannidae), and two unique species of subterranean eel-loaches, ''Pangio bhujia'' and ''Pangio pathala''.

Work with IUCN

Rajeev is closely involved with the work of the

IUCN Species Survival Commission The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natur ...

(IUCN SSC) holding multiple responsibilities in its various specialist groups. He is currently the South Asia Chair of the Freshwater Fish Specialist Group (FFSG); Freshwater Fish Red List Authority Coordinator for the regions of Southern, Northern and Eastern Asia and Oceania; and the Steering Committee member of the Freshwater Fish Specialist Group (FFSG). In addition he is also a member of the Species Survival Commission/World Commission on Protected Areas (SSC/WCPA) Joint Task Force on Biodiversity and Protected Areas; the WCPA Freshwater Specialist Group and the IUCN Conservation Planning Specialist Group.

Work with International Organizations

Rajeev’s expertise has been used by various international organizations including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) while he currently works in an honorary capacity as Advisor on Species and Taxonomy for the Mahseer Trust, an international conservation NGO based in the UK. Rajeev also serves on the advisory board of several leading international conservation organizations including SHOAL Conservation, Fisheries Conservation Foundation, Freshwater Life.

Publications and Editorial Responsibilities

Rajeev has published in some of the prestigious and top-rated scientific journals in the field of fisheries science, conservation biology and ecology including ''Trends in Ecology and Evolution'', ''Ecology Letters'', ''Fish and Fisheries'', ''Biological Conservation'', ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' and ''Journal of Biogeography''. As of December 2022, Rajeev has to his credit close to 200 publications (with 3000+ citations and a h-index of 28), and was listed in the Stanford University/Scopus Top 2% Scientists of the World for the years 2020 and 2021. Rajeev is an Editor for ''Zootaxa'' handling manuscripts on freshwater fishes from Asia (Except China). Besides, he is also a member of the Editorial Board of ''Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems'', ''Biodiversity and Conservation'', ''npj Biodiversit''y, ''Journal of Threatened Taxa'', and the Croatian Journal of Fisheries.

Legacy

In honour of Rajeev's research contributions to Indian ichthyology, two fish species have been named after him - a snakehead from the northern Western Ghats, ''Channa rara'', and a hill-stream loach ''Indoreonectes rajeevi''.

References

{{Reflist Conservation biologists