Barbus Walkerie

''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 Barbinae, but given their relationships, that taxon is better included in the Cyprininae at least for the largest part (including the type species of ''Barbus'').

Description and uses

Their common names – barbs and barbels – refer to the fact that most members of the genera have a pair of barbels 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 of barbels is poisonous, however. The large ''Barbus'' barbs are also often eaten in their native range.

At Shanhûr in Egypt, remains of a jar from the sixth- to seventh-century AD were unearthed that contained fish bones. The fish were apparently pickled to produce a dish similar to the modern ''fesikh'' (or ''faseekh''). Among the ancient remains, barbs (perhaps '' Barbus perince'') were plentiful, and Egyptians now still consider ''B. perince'' good for preparing ''fesikh'', as it is traditionally done for the '' Sham el-Nessim'' (spring festival) celebrations.Van Neer, W. & Depraetere, D. (2005): Pickled fish from the Egyptian Nile : osteological evidence from a Byzantine (Coptic) context at Shanhûr. ''Revue de Paléobiologie, S.10: 159-170.''

The smaller barbs are in some cases traded as aquarium 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.

One species, '' Barbus microbarbis'' from Rwanda, is known to have gone extinct in recent times. Several others are only known from the type specimens, and their status and continuing existence must be confirmed. As many of these are from Lake Victoria, which underwent massive ecological upheaval after Nile perch (''Lates nilosus'') were introduced, some of them likely have not survived, either.

Systematics and taxonomy

''Barbus'' has a long history as a " wastebasket taxon". Historically, most fish commonly known as " 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 the typical barbels and barbs', 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. '' 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 particular if the Labeoninae are not included in the Cyprininae –, as they seem to be as distinct from barbels and 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 linages 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

* ''Barbus balcanicus'' Kotlík, Tsigenopoulos, Ráb & Berrebi, 2002 (Danube barbel)
* ''Barbus barbus'' ( Linnaeus, 1758) (Common barbel)
* ''Barbus bergi'' Chichkoff, 1935 (Bulgarian barbel)
* ''Barbus biharicus'' Antal, László & Kotlík, 2016 (Biharian barbel) Antal, L., László, B., Kotlík, P., Mozsár, A., Czeglédi, I., Oldal, M., Kemenesi, G., Jakab, F. & Nagy, S.A. (2015): Phylogenetic evidence for a new species of ''Barbus'' in the Danube River basin. ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 96: 187–194.''
* ''Barbus borysthenicus'' Dybowski, 1862
* ''Barbus caninus'' Bonaparte, 1839 (brook barbel)
* ''Barbus carottae'' ( Bianco, 1998)
* ''Barbus carpathicus'' Kotlík, Tsigenopoulos, Ráb & Berrebi, 2002 (Carpathian barbel)
* ''Barbus ciscaucasicus'' Kessler, 1877 (Terek barbel)
* ''Barbus cyclolepis'' Heckel, 1837
* '' Barbus ercisianus'' M. S. Karaman ( sr), 1971
* ''Barbus euboicus'' Stephanidis, 1950 (Evia barbel)
* ''Barbus goktschaicus'' Kessler, 1877 (Gokcha barbel)
* ''Barbus haasi'' Mertens, 1925
* '' Barbus kubanicus'' L. S. Berg, 1913 (Kuban barbel)
* ''Barbus lacerta'' Heckel, 1843 (Kura barbel)
* ''Barbus lorteti'' Sauvage, 1882
* ''Barbus macedonicus'' S. L. Karaman, 1928
* ''Barbus meridionalis'' A. Risso, 1827 (Mediterranean barbel)
* '' Barbus niluferensis'' Turan, Kottelat & Ekmekçi, 2009
* ''Barbus oligolepis'' Battalgil, 1941
* ''Barbus peloponnesius'' Valenciennes, 1842
* ''Barbus pergamonensis'' M. S. Karaman, 1971 (Anatolian barbel)
* ''Barbus petenyi'' Heckel, 1852 (Romanian barbel)
* ''Barbus plebejus'' Bonaparte, 1839 (Italian barbel)
* ''Barbus prespensis'' S. L. Karaman, 1924
* ''Barbus rebeli'' Koller, 1926 (Western Balkan barbel)
* ''Barbus sperchiensis'' Stephanidis, 1950 (Sperchios barbel)
* ''Barbus strumicae'' S. L. Karaman, 1955 (Strumica barbel)
* ''Barbus tauricus'' Kessler, 1877 (Crimean barbel)
* ''Barbus thessalus'' Stephanidis, 1971 (Thessalian barbel)
* ''Barbus tyberinus'' Bonaparte, 1839 (Horse barbel)
* ''Barbus waleckii'' Rolik, 1970 (Vistula barbel)

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

{{Taxonbar, from=Q133326

Cyprinidae genera
Taxa named by Georges Cuvier