''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
The common barbel (''Barbus barbus'') is a species of freshwater fish belonging to the family Cyprinidae. It shares the common name 'barbel' with its many relatives in the genus ''Barbus'', of which it is the type species. In Great Britain it is ...
, 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
Cyprinae is a subfamily of largely freshwater ray-finned fishes, one of ten subfamilies belonging to the family Cyprinidae. This family comprises the carps, minnows, barbs and related fishes.
Genera
Cyprinae contains the following recognised ex ...
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
barbel
Barbel may refer to:
*Barbel (anatomy), a whisker-like organ near the mouth found in some fish (notably catfish, loaches and cyprinids) and turtles
*Barbel (fish), a common name for certain species of fish
**''Barbus barbus'', a species of cyprini ...
s – refer to the fact that most members of the genera have a pair of
barbel
Barbel may refer to:
*Barbel (anatomy), a whisker-like organ near the mouth found in some fish (notably catfish, loaches and cyprinids) and turtles
*Barbel (fish), a common name for certain species of fish
**''Barbus barbus'', a species of cyprini ...
s 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 Asian ''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". Historically, most fish commonly known as "Barb (fish), barbs" were usually placed here by default. More recently, many "barbs" have been reclassified into genera such as ''Arabibarbus'', ''Barbichthys'', ''Barbodes'', ''Barboides'', ''Barbonymus'', ''Barbopsis'', ''Caecobarbus'', ''Capoeta'', ''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 and Europe, as well as adjacent Asia. However, the genus even in the reduced version is probably paraphyletic, 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 barbs (e.g. ''Labeobarbus reinii, 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 are not included in the Cyprininae –, as they seem to be as distinct from barbels and Cyprinus, typical carps, as these are from the garras (which are part of the disputed Labeoninae), rendering the old "Barbinae" paraphyletic. Within the small African barbs, several lineages can be recognized. These are mostly diploid; a tetraploid 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 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''
Davut Turan, Turan, Cüneyt Kaya, Kaya, Matthias Geiger, Geiger & Jörg Freyhof, Freyhof, 2018
* ''Barbus balcanicus''
Petr Kotlík, Kotlík, Constantinos S. Tsigenopoulos, Tsigenopoulos, Petr Ráb, Ráb & Patrick Berrebi, Berrebi, 2002 (Danube barbel)
* ''Barbus barbus''
(Carl Linnaeus, Linnaeus, 10th edition of Systema Naturae, 1758) (Common barbel)
* ''Barbus bergi''
Georgi Chichkoff, Chichkoff, 1935 (Bulgarian barbel)
* ''Barbus biharicus''
László Antal (biologist), Antal, Brigitta László, László & Kotlík, 2016 (Biharian barbel)
* ''Barbus borysthenicus''
Benedykt Dybowski, Dybowski, 1862
* ''Barbus caninus''
Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Bonaparte, 1839 (brook barbel)
* ''Barbus carpathicus''
Kotlík, Tsigenopoulos, Ráb & Berrebi, 2002 (Carpathian barbel)
* ''Barbus ciscaucasicus''
Karl Fedorovich Kessler, Kessler, 1877 (Terek barbel)
* ''Barbus cyclolepis''
Johann Jakob Heckel, Heckel, 1837
* ''Barbus cyri''
Filippo De Filippi, De Filippi, 1865 (Kura barbel)
* ''Barbus ercisianus''
Stanko Karaman, Karaman, 1971
* ''Barbus escherichii''
Franz Steindachner, Steindachner, 1897 (Ankara barbel)
* ''Barbus euboicus''
Alexander I. Stephanidis, Stephanidis, 1950 (Evia barbel)
* ''Barbus fucini''
Costa, 1853
* ''Barbus haasi''
Robert Mertens, Mertens, 1925 (Catalonian barbel)
* ''Barbus ida''
Salim Serkan Güçlü, Güçlü, Gökhan Kalaycı, Kalayci, Müfit Özuluğ, Özuluğ, Fahrettin Küçük, Küçük & Turan, 2021
* ''Barbus karunensis''
Khaefi, Esmaeili, Geiger & Eagderi, 2017 (Karun barbel)
* ''Barbus kubanicus''
Lev Berg, L. S. Berg, 1913 (Kuban barbel)
* ''Barbus lacerta''
Heckel, 1843 (lizard barbel)
* ''Barbus macedonicus''
Karaman, 1928
* ''Barbus meridionalis''
Antoine Risso, A. Risso, 1827 (Mediterranean barbel)
* ''Barbus miliaris''
Filippo De Filippi, De Filippi, 1863
* ''Barbus niluferensis''
Turan, Maurice Kottelat, Kottelat & Fitnat Güler Atalay-Ekmekçi, Ekmekçi, 2009 (Simav barbel)
* ''Barbus oligolepis''
Fahire Battalgil, Battalgil, 1941 (Marmara barbel)
* ''Barbus oscensis''
Giovanni Rossi (ichthyologist), Rossi & Frederico Plazzi, Plazzi, 2023.
* ''Barbus peloponnesius''
Achille Valenciennes, Valenciennes, 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''
Otto Koller, Koller, 1926 (Western Balkan barbel)
* ''Barbus rionicus''
Sergei Nikolaevich Kamensky, Kamensky, 1899
* ''Barbus samniticus''
Massimo Lorenzoni, Lorenzoni, Antonella Carosi, Carosi, Silvia Quadroni, Quadroni, Vanessa De Santis, De Santis, Isabella Vanetti, Vanetti, Giovanni B. Delmastro, Delmastro & Serena Zaccara, 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''
Halina Rolik, 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 Sipang Fauna of Indonesia.,
but it probably should be placed in another genus.
See also
* Danionins
References
{{Authority control
Barbus,
Barbinae
Cyprinidae genera