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''Barbus'' is a
genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...
in the
family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Cyprinidae Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family, including the carps, the true minnows, and their relatives the barbs and barbels, among others. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family, and t ...
. The
type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...
of ''Barbus'' is the common barbel, first described as ''Cyprinus barbus'' and now named ''Barbus barbus''. ''Barbus'' is the namesake genus of the
subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...
Barbinae, but given their relationships, that
taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...
is better included in the Cyprininae at least for the largest part (including the type species of ''Barbus'').


Description and uses

Their common names –
barb Barb or the BARBs or ''variation'' may refer to: People * Barb (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * Barb, a term used by fans of Nicki Minaj to refer to themselves * The Barbs, a band Places * Barb, ...
s and barbels – refer to the fact that most members of the genera have a pair of barbels on their mouths, which they can use to search for food at the bottom of the water. Barbels are often fished for food; in some locations they are of commercial significance. The
roe Roe, ( ) or hard roe, is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooking, c ...
of barbels is poisonous, however. The large ''Barbus'' barbs are also often eaten in their native range. The smaller barbs are in some cases traded as
aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...
fish. Some are quite significant, but as a whole, the genus is not yet as well represented in aquaria as the
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
n '' Puntius''.Lambert, D.J. (1997): ''Freshwater Aquarium Fish''. Chartwell Books, Edison, New Jersey, USA.


Systematics and taxonomy

''Barbus'' has a long history as a "
wastebasket taxon Wastebasket taxon (also called a wastebin taxon, dustbin taxon or catch-all taxon) is a term used by some taxonomists to refer to a taxon that has the purpose of classifying organisms that do not fit anywhere else. They are typically defined by e ...
". Historically, most fish commonly known as " barbs" were usually placed here by default. More recently, many "barbs" have been reclassified into genera such as '' Arabibarbus'', '' Barbichthys'', ''
Barbodes ''Barbodes'' is a genus of small to medium-sized cyprinid fish native to tropical Asia. The majority of the species are from Southeast Asia. Many species are threatened and some from the Philippines (Lake Lanao) are already extinct. A survey carr ...
'', ''
Barboides ''Barboides'' is a genus of very small ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae from freshwater habitats in West and Middle Africa. Species *'' Barboides britzi'' Conway Conway may refer to: Places United States * Conway, Arkansas * ...
'', ''
Barbonymus ''Barbonymus'' is a ray-finned fish genus in the family Cyprinidae, containing some barb species. The genus was only established in 1999, with the tinfoil barb (''B. schwanenfeldii'') as type species; thus, these fish are sometimes collectively ...
'', ''
Barbopsis The Somalian blind barb (''Barbopsis devecchii'') is a ray-finned fish species in the family Cyprinidae. It is the only member of the genus ''Barbopsis''. This troglobitic fish is found only in Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Repu ...
'', ''
Caecobarbus ''Caecobarbus'' is a monospecific genus of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cyprinidae. which includes the carps, barbs and related fishes. The only species in the genus is ''Caecobarbus geertsi'', the African blind barb or Co ...
'', ''
Capoeta ''Capoeta'', also known as scrapers, is a genus of fish in the family Cyprinidae found in Western Asia. The distribution extends from Turkey to the Levant, to Transcaucasia, Iraq, Turkmenistan, in Armenia, particularly in lake Sevan and northern ...
'', '' Carasobarbus'', '' Clypeobarbus'', '' Enteromius'', '' Hypselobarbus'', '' Hypsibarbus'', '' Labeobarbus'', '' Leptobarbus'', '' Luciobarbus'', '' Mesopotamichthys'', '' Poropuntius'', '' Probarbus'', '' Pseudobarbus'', '' Puntioplites'' and '' Puntius''.Banister, K.E. (1973): A revision of the large ''Barbus'' (Pisces, Cyprinidae) of East and Central Africa. Studies on African Cyprinidae. Part II. ''Bulletin of the British Museum, 26 (1): 3–148.'' Thus, ''Barbus'' is for the time being restricted to typical barbels, and only contains fishes from
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
and
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, as well as adjacent
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
. However, the genus even in the reduced version is probably
paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...
, and many African species (particularly the small ones) do not seem to belong here, either. Eventually, ''Barbus'' is likely to be restricted to the group around ''B. barbus'' – the large European to Ponto-Caspian species commonly known as "barbels". '' Luciobarbus'' and particularly '' Messinobarbus'' are highly similar and might better be included in ''Barbus'' again. They all seem to be close relatives – perhaps the closest living relatives – of ''Aulopyge huegelii''. '' Carasobarbus'' and '' Labeobarbus'' are probably closely related to this group, too, and some large
hexaploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than two paired sets of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two complete sets of chromosomes, one fro ...
barbs (e.g. '' L. reinii'') may well belong in ''Labeobarbus''. The small barbs from Africa, by contrast, are quite distinct. They might even warrant establishment of a new
subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...
– in particular if the
Labeoninae Labeoninae is a doubtfully distinct subfamily of ray-finned fishes in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. They inhabit fresh water and the largest species richness is in the region around southern China, but there are also species else ...
are not included in the Cyprininae –, as they seem to be as distinct from barbels and typical carps, as these are from the
garra ''Garra'' is a genus of fish in the family (biology), family Cyprinidae. These fish are one example of the "log suckers", Suckermouth, sucker-mouthed Barb (fish), barbs and other cyprinids commonly kept in Aquarium, aquaria to keep down algae. T ...
s (which are part of the disputed Labeoninae), rendering the old "Barbinae"
paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...
. Within the small African barbs, several lineages can be recognized. These are mostly
diploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Here ''sets of chromosomes'' refers to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, ...
; a
tetraploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than two paired sets of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two complete sets of chromosomes, one fro ...
group largely restricted to southern Africa is very close to '' Pseudobarbus'' and might even be included therein. In particular, the group called "redfins" may well be
monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...
and belong in ''Pseudobarbus'' entirely, instead of being split between ''Pseudobarbus'' and ''Barbus''.


Species

These are the currently recognized species of this genus: * '' Barbus anatolicus''
Turan Turan (; ; , , ) is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical region, or a culture. The original Turanians were an Iranian tribe of th ...
, Kaya, Geiger & Freyhof, 2018
* '' Barbus balcanicus'' Kotlík, Tsigenopoulos, Ráb & Berrebi, 2002 (Danube barbel) * '' Barbus barbus'' (
Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
,
1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoologic ...
)
(Common barbel) * '' Barbus bergi'' Chichkoff, 1935 (Bulgarian barbel) * '' Barbus biharicus'' Antal,
László László () is a Hungarian male given name and surname after the King-Knight Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary (1077–1095). It derives from Ladislav, a variant of Vladislav Vladislav ( (', '); , ; Russian language, Russian, Ukrainian language, ...
& Kotlík, 2016
(Biharian barbel) * '' Barbus borysthenicus'' Dybowski, 1862 * '' Barbus caninus'' Bonaparte, 1839 (brook barbel) * '' Barbus carpathicus'' Kotlík, Tsigenopoulos, Ráb & Berrebi, 2002 (Carpathian barbel) * '' Barbus ciscaucasicus'' Kessler, 1877 (Terek barbel) * '' Barbus cyclolepis'' Heckel, 1837 * '' Barbus cyri'' De Filippi, 1865 (Kura barbel) * '' Barbus ercisianus''
Karaman Karaman is a city in south central Turkey, located in Central Anatolia, north of the Taurus Mountains, about south of Konya. It is the seat of Karaman Province and Karaman District.Barbus escherichii'' Steindachner, 1897 (Ankara barbel) * '' Barbus euboicus'' Stephanidis, 1950 (Evia barbel) * '' Barbus fucini'' Costa, 1853 * '' Barbus haasi'' Mertens, 1925 (Catalonian barbel) * '' Barbus ida'' Güçlü, Kalayci, Özuluğ, Küçük & Turan, 2021 * '' Barbus karunensis'' Khaefi, Esmaeili, Geiger & Eagderi, 2017 (Karun barbel) * '' Barbus kubanicus'' L. S. Berg, 1913 (Kuban barbel) * '' Barbus lacerta'' Heckel, 1843 (lizard barbel) * '' Barbus macedonicus'' Karaman, 1928 * '' Barbus meridionalis'' A. Risso, 1827 (Mediterranean barbel) * '' Barbus miliaris'' De Filippi, 1863 * '' Barbus niluferensis'' Turan, Kottelat & Ekmekçi, 2009 (Simav barbel) * '' Barbus oligolepis'' Battalgil, 1941 (Marmara barbel) * '' Barbus oscensis'' Rossi & Plazzi, 2023. * '' Barbus peloponnesius''
Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...
, 1842
* '' Barbus pergamonensis'' M. S. Karaman, 1971 (Anatolian barbel) * '' Barbus petenyi'' Heckel, 1852 (Romanian barbel) * '' Barbus plebejus'' Bonaparte, 1839 (Italian barbel) * '' Barbus prespensis'' Karaman, 1924 * '' Barbus rebeli'' Koller, 1926 (Western Balkan barbel) * '' Barbus rionicus'' Kamensky, 1899 * '' Barbus samniticus'' Lorenzoni, Carosi, Quadroni, De Santis, Vanetti, Delmastro & Zaccara, 2021 * '' Barbus sperchiensis'' Stephanidis, 1950 (Sperchios barbel) * '' Barbus strumicae'' Karaman, 1955 (Strumica barbel) * '' Barbus tauricus'' Kessler, 1877 (Crimean barbel) * '' Barbus thessalus'' Stephanidis, 1971 (Thessalian barbel) * '' Barbus tyberinus'' Bonaparte, 1839 (Horse barbel) * '' Barbus waleckii'' Rolik, 1970 (Vistula barbel) * '' Barbus xanthos'' Güçlü, Kalayci, Küçük & Turan, 2020


Fossil species

A fossil species ('' Barbus megacephalus'' Günther, 1876) is known from the
Paleogene The Paleogene Period ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Neogene Period Ma. It is the fir ...
Sipang Fauna of
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
., but it probably should be placed in another genus.


See also

* Danionins


References

{{Authority control Barbinae Cyprinidae genera