A dataset of fishes in and around Inle Lake, an ancient lake of Myanmar, with DNA barcoding, photo images and CT/3D models

Abstract Background Inle (Inlay) Lake, an ancient lake of Southeast Asia, is located at the eastern part of Myanmar, surrounded by the Shan Mountains. Detailed information on fish fauna in and around the lake has long been unknown, although its outstanding endemism was reported a century ago. New information Based on the fish specimens collected from markets, rivers, swamps, ponds and ditches around Inle Lake as well as from the lake itself from 2014 to 2016, we recorded a total of 948 occurrence data (2120 individuals), belonging to 10 orders, 19 families, 39 genera and 49 species. Amongst them, 13 species of 12 genera are endemic or nearly endemic to the lake system and 17 species of 16 genera are suggested as non-native. The data are all accessible from the document “A dataset of Inle Lake fish fauna and its distribution (http://ipt.pensoft.net/resource.do?r=inle_fish_2014-16)”, as well as DNA barcoding data (mitochondrial COI) for all species being available from the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank (Accession numbers: LC189568–LC190411). Live photographs of almost all the individuals and CT/3D model data of several specimens are also available at the graphical fish biodiversity database (http://ffish.asia/INLE2016; http://ffish.asia/INLE2016-3D). The information can benefit the clarification, public concern and conservation of the fish biodiversity in the region.


Introduction
Inle Lake is located on the southwestern part of Shan State, which is the easternmost state of Myanmar. The lake is surrounded by Shan Hills, which isolate it from the neighbouring aquatic habitats. The lake harbours several endemic fish species (Annandale 1918). However, the detailed information of fish fauna of this region has long been unknown since Annandale (1918), while several studies reported the concerns for settlement of non-native species and decline of endemic/native species (Musikasinthorn 1998, Su and Jassby 2000, Davies et al. 2004, Oo 2010. This project aimed to elucidate the current status of fish fauna of the lake, especially focusing on survival of endemic/native species and settlement of non-native species. In addition, DNA sequences (mitochondrial COI), photo images and CT/3D models were published online in the public interest of biodiversity.

Project description
Title: Current status, origin and conservation of endemic fishes in an ancient lake, Inle Lake.

Study area description:
Inle Lake is located on the Southwestern part of Shan State, which is the easternmost state in Myanmar. The lake is surrounded by Shan Hills and harbours several endemic fish species. The surveys were carried out in the lake and its surroundings from 23 September 2014 until 2 July 2016. In addition, local markets were also investigated for fishes caught in the study area.
Design description: This study focused on fish fauna of Inle Lake, a representative ancient lake in mainland Southeast Asia. Until now, the lake has not been investigated for nearly a century (Annandale 1918). In our study, we focused on the condition of endemic species as the environments have been drastically changed (Su and Jassby 2000) and alien species recently settled in the lake (Davies et al. 2004, Oo 2010. As information about the fish species of Inle Lake is quite limited, almost all the specimens were photographed and the photo data were deposited in an online fish database (Kano et al. 2013) (http:// ffish.asia/INLE2016). CT/3D models for several specimens were also made and are available from the database (http://ffish.asia/INLE2016-3D). The main bodies were retained as formalin samples for voucher specimens and deposited at Kasetsart University, Thailand. In addition, a small piece of tissue (mainly from the right pectoral or pelvic fin) was excised, preserved in 99% alcohol and stored at Kyoto University to facilitate the study of molecular biology and genetics. The DNA sequences (mitochondrial COI) information was deposited at the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank (Accession numbers: LC189568-LC190411).
Funding: JSPS (The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) KAKENHI Grant Number JP26304007.

Sampling methods
Sampling description: The fish samples were either collected from 43 wild habitats as well as from one fish cage in the lake or purchased at 24 local markets (Fig. 1 ). The fishes were collected by hand-nets, throwing nets, traps and/or purchased from fishermen. In the markets, we avoided purchasing the obvious cultured fishes from other areas (especially from Yangon and Mandalay), such as Wallago spp. and Pangasianodon hypophthalmus, by checking with the seller.
Quality control: All the scientific names of fish samples were validated by the updated fish checklist in the Catalogue of Fishes, California Academy of Sciences (http:// www.calacademy.org/scientists/projects/catalog-of-fishes), Kottelat (2013) and/or Nelson et al. (2016). For order level classification of the family Ambassidae, we followed Hastings et al. (2014). Most of the specimens were photographed in a fresh state (Kano and Nakajima 2014) and then the formalin specimens and its tissue samples were catalogued and deposited at the Research Laboratory of Ichthyology, Department of Fishery Biology, Faculty of Fisheries, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand (RLIKU) and Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, respectively. All the samples were assigned the IDs which were associated with the records of location (latitude, longitude and region name), the dates, methods, accession numbers of DNA sequences, etc.
Step description: Step 1: Sampling locality and date were recorded.
Step 2: Specimens were given IDs, photographed, fin-clipped and roughly classified on site.
Step 3: Specimens were fixed in 10% formalin solution for two or more weeks. Subsequently, they were cleaned with water and preserved in 75% ethanol.
Step 4: Specimens were shipped back to the lab for correct species identification. Spatial coverage of the sampling points. Solid circles indicate wild environments such as rivers and reservoirs. White circles indicate local markets and a grey circle indicates a fish cage in the lake.

Additional information Endemic, native and non-native or status uncertain
Inle Lake has an outstanding endemic fish fauna while non-native species have established in and around the lake. Thus, the species were discriminated by endemic, native (but not endemic), non-native and unknown as shown in Fig. 4. In addition, two endemic species reported in Annandale (1918) were not ascertained in this survey: the two species seemed to be very rare or already extinct from the studied area.