''Haludaria'' 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 ...

cyprinid Cyprinidae is a Family (biology), family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family, including the carps, the true minnows, and their relatives the barb (fish), barbs and barbel (fish), barbels, among others. Cyprinidae is the ...

s native to freshwater habitats in the Western Ghats 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 ...

. Originally the genus was named ''Dravidia'' Pethiyagoda, Meegaskumbura & Maduwage, 2012 which is preoccupied by the

diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advance ...

n genus ''Dravidia'' Lehrer, 2010.Pethiyagoda, R. (2013)
''Haludaria'', a replacement generic name for ''Dravidia'' (Teleostei: Cyprinidae).
''Zootaxa, 3646 (2): 199.''

Etymology

The name ''Haludaria'' is derived from "Haludar", the name of a Bengali youth and artist who provided the illustrations for Francis Hamilton's (Formerly Buchanan) book on the

Ganges River The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

fishes.

Description

Adults are small, typically less than SL. Both rostral and maxillary

barbels In fish anatomy and turtle anatomy, a barbel is a slender, whisker like sensory organ near the mouth (sometimes called whiskers or tendrils). Fish that have barbels include the catfish, the carp, the goatfish, the hagfish, the sturgeon, the z ...

are present.

Lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

is complete and has 18–26 pored scales on body. There are one or two broad, black bars on flank, between bases of dorsal and anal fins.

Species

There are currently four recognized species in this genus: * ''

Haludaria afasciata ''Haludaria afasciata'', the plain melon barb, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cyprinidae, the family which includes the carps, barbs and related fishes. This species is endemic to India where it is known only ...

'' (

Jayaram Jayaram Subramaniam, (born 10 December 1965), is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema, in addition to Tamil cinema, Tamil, Telugu cinema, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Sanskrit, and Bhojpuri language films. He is also a chenda ...

, 1990) * ''

Haludaria fasciata The melon barb (''Haludaria fasciata'') is a common species of cyprinid fish that is endemic to rivers in Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the Western Ghats of South India. They live in a tropical climate in water that typically has a ...

'' ( Jerdon, 1849) (Melon barb) * ''

Haludaria kannikattiensis ''Haludaria kannikattiensis'' is a species of cyprinid fish endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that ...

'' ( Arunachalam & J. A. Johnson, 2003) * ''

Haludaria melanampyx ''Haludaria melanampyx'' is a species of cyprinid fish endemic to India where it is known from south Kanara through the Travancore hills to the Nagercoil, Nilgiris, and Cauvery drainages in the Western Ghats, India India, offic ...

'' ( F. Day, 1865)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1255959 Smiliogastrinae Taxa named by Rohan Pethiyagoda Freshwater fish of Asia Endemic fauna of India