A barb is one of various ray-finned fish species in a non- phylogenetic group, with members in the family

Cyprinidae Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest verte ...

, and especially the

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

'' Barbus'' and ''

Puntius ''Puntius'' is a genus of small freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae native to South Asia and Mainland Southeast Asia, as well as Taiwan. Many species formerly placed in ''Puntius'' have been moved to other genera such as ''Barbodes'', ''Daw ...

'', but many others also. They were formerly united with the barbels in 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 subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Barbinae but that group is

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

with the Cyprininae. If the Labeoninae are recognized as distinct, many small African "barbs" would probably, however, warrant recognition as a new subfamily. The root of the word "barb" is common in cyprinid names of European languages, from the Latin ''barba'' ("beard") ( COD): * ''barb'' from Catalan * ''barbi'' from Finnish * ''barbo'' from Spanish * ''barbeau'' from French * ''barbo'' from Italian and many others. This is in reference to the barbels which are prominently seen around the mouth of many "barbs".

Genera

Genera that contain species with

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

s including "barb": * '' Barbichthys'' * '' Barbodes'' * ''

Barboides ''Barboides'' is a genus of very small ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae from freshwater habitats in West and Middle Africa. Species *''Barboides britzi'' Conway & Moritz, 2006 *''Barboides gracilis ''Barboides gracilis'' is a species ...

'' * '' Barbonymus'' – tinfoil barbs * '' Barbopsis'' * '' Barbus'' – typical barbels (and provisionally African barbs) * '' Caecobarbus'' * '' Capoeta'' * '' Carasobarbus'' * '' Catla'' * '' Catlocarpio'' * '' Chela (fish)'' * ''

Coptostomabarbus ''Coptostomabarbus'' is a small genus of cyprinid fish containing only two African species. Species * '' Coptostomabarbus bellcrossi'' Poll, 1969 * '' Coptostomabarbus wittei'' L. R. David & Poll Poll, polled, or polling may refer to: Figur ...

'' * ''

Cyclocheilichthys ''Cyclocheilichthys'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae containing approximately eight valid species. They are native to freshwater habitats in Southeast Asia and China. Two additional species are alternately placed in the g ...

'' * '' Discherodontus'' * '' Hypselobarbus'' * '' Hypsibarbus'' * '' Labeobarbus'' * '' Leptobarbus'' * '' Luciobarbus'' (may belong in ''Barbus'') * ''

Messinobarbus ''Barbus carottae'' is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus ''Barbus'' from Lake Yliki in Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of t ...

'' (may belong in ''Barbus'') * ''

Megarasbora ''Megarasbora elanga'' ( bn, এলং), commonly known as the Bengala barb is a fish of the carp family Cyprinidae, found commonly in rivers and freshwater lakes in and around Bangladesh. It reaches a maximum length of . It is a valued food fish ...

'' * '' Osteochilus'' * ''

Poropuntius ''Poropuntius'' is a genus of cyprinid fish found mainly in freshwater habitats of Southeast Asia and Yunnan in China, but ''P. burtoni'' is from South Asia. Several species have highly restricted ranges and are threatened, and a single ''P. spel ...

'' * '' Probarbus'' * '' Puntioplites'' * ''

'' * '' Sawbwa'' – Sawbwa Barb

Footnotes

References

* (2007): Evolutionary origin of Lake Tana's (Ethiopia) small ''Barbus'' species: indications of rapid ecological divergence and speciation. '' Anim. Biol.'' 57(1): 39-48. (HTML abstract)

External links

*{{cite web , url = http://www.aquariumdomain.com/viewFreshwaterSpeciesList.php?species=Barbs , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090622001629/http://www.aquariumdomain.com/viewFreshwaterSpeciesList.php?species=Barbs , url-status = dead , archive-date = June 22, 2009 , title = Barbs fish species profiles , access-date = 2009-09-11 Fish common names

Genera

See also

Footnotes

References

External links