''Puntius'' 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 small

freshwater fish Freshwater fish are fish species that spend some or all of their lives in bodies of fresh water such as rivers, lakes, ponds and inland wetlands, where the salinity is less than 1.05%. These environments differ from marine habitats in many wa ...

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 ...

native to

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

and

Mainland Southeast Asia Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

, as well as

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. Many

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), ...

formerly placed in ''Puntius'' have been moved to other genera such as ''

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 ...

'', '' Dawkinsia'', '' Desmopuntius'', ''

Haludaria ''Haludaria'' is a genus of cyprinids native to freshwater habitats in the Western Ghats of India. Originally the genus was named ''Dravidia'' Pethiyagoda, Meegaskumbura & Maduwage, 2012 which is preoccupied by the dipteran genus ''Dravidia'' Leh ...

'', '' Oliotius'', '' Pethia'', '' Puntigrus'', '' Sahyadria'' and '' Systomus''.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.
''Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Suppl. No. 27: 1–663.''Pethiyagoda, R., Meegaskumbura, M. & Maduwage, K. (2012)
A synopsis of the South Asian fishes referred to ''Puntius'' (Pisces: Cyprinidae).
''Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 23 (1): 69–95.''Raghavan, R., Philip, S., Ali, A. & Dahanukar, N. (2013)
''Sahyadria'', a new genus of barbs (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) from Western Ghats of India.
''Journal of Threatened Taxa, 5 (15): 4932–4938.'' Previously, it was assumed that the earliest record of this genus was the fossil species ''Puntius bussyi'' from the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

, but a 2020 study reclassified this species into the new genus '' Pauciuncus'', possibly in the subfamily

Smiliogastrinae Smiliogastrinae is a subfamily of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cyprinidae, the family which includes the carps, barbs and related fishes. The fishes in this genus are found in Africa and Asia and are commonly referred to ...

Etymology

The name ''Puntius'' comes from ''Pungti'' (Pronounced ''Puti''), a Bangla term for small cyprinids.

Range

Fishes of the genus ''Puntius'' are found in

(west to Pakistan and south to

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

, with a single species, '' P. snyderi'', in

. The greatest

species richness Species richness is the number of different species represented in an community (ecology), ecological community, landscape or region. Species richness is simply a count of species, and it does not take into account the Abundance (ecology), abunda ...

is in India.

Description

The maximum size for an adult of this genus is , but most species reach and some species do not surpass . In appearance they may resemble miniature

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 ...

and are sometimes brightly coloured or patterned.

Behavior

These fishes are

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize ...

; their diet includes small

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s and

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

matter. Breeding is by egg scattering and takes place close to the bottom, near or within areas of dense plant growth. They do not show parental care and adults may eat the young.

Taxonomy

Historically, many species of ''Puntius'' have been classified in several genera, including ''

Barbus ''Barbus'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae. The type species of ''Barbus'' is the common barbel, first described as ''Cyprinus barbus'' and now named ''Barbus barbus''. ''Barbus'' is the namesake genus of the subfamily Ba ...

''. Despite the reclassifications, the

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

remains the same in these – except in cases of

homonym In linguistics, homonyms are words which are either; '' homographs''—words that mean different things, but have the same spelling (regardless of pronunciation), or '' homophones''—words that mean different things, but have the same pronunciat ...

ies – as ''Barbus'' and ''Puntius'' have the same

grammatical gender In linguistics, a grammatical gender system is a specific form of a noun class system, where nouns are assigned to gender categories that are often not related to the real-world qualities of the entities denoted by those nouns. In languages wit ...

. The closest living relatives of the spotted barbs are the genus '' Cyprinion'' and perhaps the genus ''

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 ...

''. These and the other "typical"

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 were formerly often separated as

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 this group is highly

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 ...

with regard to the Cyprininae and better merged there at least for the largest part (including ''Puntius''). In particular the genus ''

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 ...

'', containing the tinfoil barb and its relatives – for some time included in ''Puntius'' – appears to be a kind of

that has evolved convergently with barbs. This genus is classified within the subfamily

by ''

Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes Catalog of Fishes is a comprehensive on-line database and reference work on the scientific names of fish species and genera. It is global in its scope and is hosted by the California Academy of Sciences. It has been compiled and is continuously up ...

''.

Species

These are the currently recognized species in this genus: * '' Puntius ambassis'' (

Day A day is the time rotation period, period of a full Earth's rotation, rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, ...

, 1869) * '' Puntius amphibius'' (

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) (Scarlet-banded barb) * '' Puntius arenatus'' (Day, 1878) (Arenatus barb) * '' Puntius brevis'' ( Bleeker, 1849) (Swamp barb) * '' Puntius burmanicus'' (Day, 1878) * '' Puntius cauveriensis'' ( Hora, 1937) (Cauvery barb) * '' Puntius chola'' (

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

, 1822) (Chola barb) * '' Puntius crescentus'' Yazdani &

Singh Singh ( IPA: ) is a title, middle name, or surname that means "lion" in various South Asian and Southeast Asian communities. Traditionally used by the Hindu Kshatriya community, it was later mandated in the late 17th century by Guru Gobind Si ...

, 1994 * '' Puntius deccanensis'' Yazdani & Babu Rao, 1976 (Deccan barb) * '' Puntius dolichopterus'' Plamoottil, 2015 (Longfin Kerala barb) * '' Puntius dorsalis'' ( Jerdon, 1849) (Long-snouted barb) * '' Puntius euspilurus'' Plamoottil, 2016 * '' Puntius fraseri'' (Hora & Misra, 1938) (Dharna barb) * '' Puntius kamalika'' Silva, Maduwage & Pethiyagoda, 2008 * '' Puntius kelumi'' Pethiyagoda, Silva, Maduwage & Meegaskumbura, 2008 * '' Puntius khohi'' Dobriyal, R. Singh, Uniyal, H. K. Joshi, Phurailatpam & Bisht, 2004 * ''

Pethia khugae ''Pethia khugae''. the Khuga barb, is a species of cyprinid fish native to India where it is found in the Chindwin River basin, occurring in clear, relatively fast-flowing streams. This species reaches a length of fish measurement, SL. Refere ...

'' ( Linthoingambi & Vishwanath 2007) * '' Puntius kyphus'' Plamoottil, 2019 * '' Puntius layardi'' ( Günther, 1868) (layard's barb) * '' Puntius madhusoodani'' Kumar, Benno Pereira & Radhakrishnan, 2012 * '' Puntius mahecola'' (Valenciennes, 1844) (Mahecola barb) * '' Puntius masyai'' Smith, 1945 * '' Puntius mudumalaiensis'' Menon & Rema Devi, 1992 * '' Puntius muzaffarpurensis'' Srivastava, Verma & Sharma, 1977 * '' Puntius nangalensis''

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 * '' Puntius nelsoni'' Plamoottil, 2014 (Travancore yellow barb) * '' Puntius nigronotus'' Plamoottil, 2014 (Malabar black-backed barb) * '' Puntius ocellus'' Plamoottil &

Vineeth Vineeth Radhakrishnan (born 23 August 1969) is an Indian actor, Bharatanatyam dancer, voice artist and choreographer who primarily works in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu language films. He has also appeared in a few Hindi and Kannada films. He h ...

, 2020 * '' Puntius parrah'' Day, 1865 (Parrah barb) * '' Puntius punjabensis'' (Day, 1871) * '' Puntius sanctus'' Plamoottil, 2020 * '' Puntius snyderi'' Ōshima, 1919 * '' Puntius sophore'' (Hamilton, 1822) (Pool barb) * '' Puntius sophoroides'' (Günther, 1868) * '' Puntius stigma'' (Valenciennes, 1844) * '' Puntius terio'' (Hamilton, 1822) (Onespot barb) * '' Puntius thermalis'' (Valenciennes, 1844) * '' Puntius viridis'' Plamoottil &

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

2014 * '' Puntius waageni'' (Day, 1872)

References

{{Authority control Smiliogastrinae Cyprinidae genera Fish of Southeast Asia Fish of South Asia Taxa named by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton