The trout barb, or Indian trout (''Raiamas bola'') is a

carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

of 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 ...

, which occurs in freshwaters around the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line between ...

Description

The trout barb has an elongated, slender body which is laterally compressed with a sharp snout. The juvenile fish possess a pair of rudimentary maxillary barbels but these are absent in the adults. It has very small scales and has 85-95 scales along its lateral line. It has a forked tail. The dorsal part of the body is greenish black, separated from the silvery flanks by a golden stripe running along the length of the body. The fins are yellowish in colour and there are a number of greenish blue spots on the body. The maximum length is 35 cm and the grow up to 2.3 kg in weight.

Distribution

The trout barb is found in the Indian states of

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

and

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sch ...

. It also occurs in Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar. Trout barbs were introduced into two lakes near

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

in 1926, where they subsequently successfully bred.

Habitat and ecology

The trout barb is found in rivers and streams and also in ditches and canals. In India it prefers clear streams with rocky riverbeds. It breeds during early monsoon season, in June, spawning in heavily flooded areas. It is sexually mature at around three years old, during the spawning seasons the males become brighter and the skin on their flanks becomes rougher. The wide mouth and stream-lined body are adaptations for an actively predatory lifestyle.

Conservation

The trout barb is listed as Least Concern by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

but the population is thought to be declining due to illegal and destructive fishing methods.

Fishing

The trout barb is said to have a delicate flavoured flesh and to make good sport for fly fishermen.

References

Fishbase
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3764470 trout barb trout barb Fish of Bangladesh Freshwater fish of South Asia trout barb