The Malabar danio (''Devario malabaricus'') is a species of freshwater

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 ...

belonging to 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 ...

Danionidae The danionins are a group of small, minnow-type fish belonging to the family Danionidae. Species of this group are in the genera clades ''Danio'' and '' Devario'' (which also includes ''Chela'', ''Laubuka'', ''Microdevario'', and ''Microrasbora ...

. Originating in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

and the west coast of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, the fish has been circulated throughout the world through the

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 trade. It grows to a maximum length of but rarely exceeds in a home aquarium. The Malabar danio is found in

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

climates in a wide variety of waters, from mountain streams to small pools, but it prefers flowing waters. It is an active, schooling fish that prefers to be in groups. Its diet consists of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s and plant matter. Malabar danios are

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...

, and

spawn Spawn or spawning may refer to: * Spawning, the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals Arts, entertainment and media * Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise ** ''Spawn: Armageddon' ...

in shallow water after heavy rains among the plants growing on the bottom. An adult will spawn around 200 light-orange, sticky eggs that will hatch in one to two days. The fry will be free-swimming after the fifth day. The parents must be removed from aquaria to prevent them from eating the eggs. The species was earlier incorrectly considered a synonym of '' Devario aequipinnatus'', which is a valid name for a different species.

References

External links

''Devario malabaricus''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q426618 Devario Freshwater fish of Sri Lanka Fish described in 1849 Taxa named by Thomas C. Jerdon Freshwater fish of India

See also

References

External links