''Barbonymus'' is a

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, containing some

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, ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

. The genus was only established in 1999, with the tinfoil barb (''B. schwanenfeldii'') as

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 ...

; thus, these fish are sometimes collectively called tinfoils. The new genus was established in recognition of the fact that some large Asian "barbs", formerly rather indiscriminately lumped in '' Barbus'' (typical barbels and relatives), '' Barbodes'' (barb-like carps) and '' Puntius'' (spotted barbs), form a distinct

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

ary lineage. Barbon gonion 120127-22832 tsm

They are actually very close relatives of the common carp (''Cyprinus carpio''). Even though only five species are included at present, it is not certain whether these form a

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 ...

lineage; the Java barb (''B. gonionotus'') for example seems to be very close indeed to '' Cyclocheilichthys'', which unites a number of barb-like "

carp The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...

s". Past hybridization is known widely in Cyprinidae, and confounds molecular and other

cladistic Cladistics ( ; from Ancient Greek 'branch') is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is ...

studies relying on a single source of data. Altogether the delimitation of the typical carps and allied genera remains still not fully solved.

Species

There are currently 10 recognized species in this genus:Kottelat, M. (2013)
The Fishes of the Inland Waters of Southeast Asia: A Catalogue and Core Bibliography of the Fishes Known to Occur in Freshwaters, Mangroves and Estuaries.
''The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 2013, Supplement No. 27: 1–663.'' * '' Barbonymus altus'' ( Günther, 1868) (red-tailed tinfoil) * '' Barbonymus balleroides'' (

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) * '' Barbonymus belinka'' ( Bleeker, 1860) * '' Barbonymus collingwoodii'' ( Günther, 1868) * '' Barbonymus gonionotus'' ( Bleeker, 1850) (Java barb) * '' Barbonymus mahakkamensis'' ( C. G. E. Ahl, 1922) * '' Barbonymus platysoma'' ( Bleeker, 1855) * '' Barbonymus schwanenfeldii'' ( Bleeker, 1853) (tinfoil barb) * '' Barbonymus strigatus'' ( Boulenger, 1894) * '' Barbonymus sunieri'' ( M. C. W. Weber & de Beaufort, 1916)

References

Cyprinidae genera Barbs (fish) Taxa named by Maurice Kottelat {{Cyprininae-stub