''Puntius'' is a genus of small

freshwater fish Freshwater fish are those that spend some or all of their lives in fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 1.05%. These environments differ from marine conditions in many ways, especially the difference in levels of s ...

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 ...

native to South Asia and

Mainland Southeast Asia Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, 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 the west an ...

, as well as Taiwan. Many species formerly placed in ''Puntius'' have been moved to other genera such as '' Barbodes'', ''

Dawkinsia ''Dawkinsia'' is a genus of cyprinid fishes from freshwater in South India and Sri Lanka. It was split off from genus ''Puntius'' in 2012. Etymology ''Dawkinsia'' is named after the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in recognition of his ...

'', ''

Desmopuntius ''Desmopuntius'' is a genus of small freshwater cyprinids native to Southeast Asia. They were formerly included in ''Puntius''. Etymology The name ''Desmopuntius'' is derived from the Greek language δεσμψτης ("desmotes") meaning 'priso ...

'', ''

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'' Le ...

'', ''

Oliotius The checker barb (''Oliotius oligolepis'')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. ''The Raffles Bulletin of Zool ...

'', '' Pethia'', ''

Puntigrus ''Puntigrus'' is a genus of cyprinids native to Southeast Asia. Etymology The name ''Puntigrus'' is derived from the first syllable of the cyprinid genus ''Puntius'' and "tigrus" (to allude to the Latin language, Latin ''"tigris"'' meaning "t ...

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Sahyadria ''Sahyadria'' is a genus of cyprinid fishes native to India where they are endemic to rivers and streams in the Western Ghats. They were formerly included in ''Puntius''. The largest ''Sahyadria'' measure total length. Etymology The name of ...

'' and ''

Systomus ''Systomus'' is a genus of fish in the family Cyprinidae native to tropical Asia.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 e ...

''.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.''

Etymology

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

Range

Fishes of the genus ''Puntius'' are found in South Asia (west to Pakistan and south to Sri Lanka) and

, with a single species, ''Puntius snyderi, P. snyderi'', in Taiwan. The greatest species richness is in India.

Description

The fish measurement, 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 and are sometimes brightly coloured or patterned.

Behavior

These fishes are omnivorous; their diet includes small invertebrates and plant 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''. Despite the reclassifications, the specific name (botany), specific epithet remains the same in these – except in cases of Homonym (biology), homonymies – as ''Barbus'' and ''Puntius'' have the same grammatical gender. The closest living relatives of the spotted barbs are the genus ''Cyprinion'' and perhaps the genus ''Capoeta''. These and the other "typical" barb (fish), barbs and barbel (fish), barbels were formerly often separated as subfamily Barbinae, but this group is highly paraphyletic with regard to the Cyprininae and better merged there at least for the largest part (including ''Puntius''). In particular the genus ''Barbonymus'', containing the tinfoil barb and its relatives – for some time included in ''Puntius'' – appears to be a kind of carp that has convergent evolution, evolved convergently with barbs.

Species

These are the currently recognized species in this genus: * ''Puntius ambassis'' (Francis Day, F. Day, 1869) * ''Puntius amphibius'' (Achille Valenciennes, Valenciennes, 1842) (Scarlet-banded barb) * ''Puntius aphya'' (Albert Günther, Günther, 1868) * ''Puntius arenatus'' (Francis Day, F. Day, 1878) (Arenatus barb) * ''Puntius bimaculatus'' (Pieter Bleeker, Bleeker, 1863) (Redside barb) * ''Puntius bramoides'' (Achille Valenciennes, Valenciennes, 1842) * ''Puntius brevis'' (Pieter Bleeker, Bleeker, 1849) * ''Puntius burmanicus'' (Francis Day, F. Day, 1878) * ''Puntius cauveriensis'' (Sunder Lal Hora, Hora, 1937) (Cauvery barb) * ''Swamp barb, Puntius chola'' (Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, F. Hamilton, 1822) (Swamp barb) * ''Puntius crescentus'' G. M. Yazdani & D. F. Singh, 1994 * ''Puntius deccanensis'' G. M. Yazdani & M. Babu Rao, 1976 (Deccan barb) * ''Puntius dolichopterus'' Plamoottil, 2015 (Longfin Kerala barb) * ''Puntius dorsalis'' (Thomas Caverhill Jerdon, Jerdon, 1849) (Long-snouted barb) * ''Puntius euspilurus'' Plamoottil 2016 * ''Puntius fraseri'' (Sunder Lal Hora, Hora & Kamla Sankar Misra, Misra, 1938) (Dharna barb) * ''Puntius kamalika'' N. K. Anjana Silva, N. K. A. Silva, Kalana Maduwage, Maduwage & Tilak Rohan David Pethiyagoda, Pethiyagoda, 2008 * ''Puntius kelumi'' Tilak Rohan David Pethiyagoda, Pethiyagoda, N. K. Anjana Silva, N. K. A. Silva, Kalana Maduwage, Maduwage & Madhava Meegaskumbura, Meegaskumbura, 2008 * ''Puntius khohi'' Anoop Kumar Dobriyal, Dobriyal, Ravindra Singh (ichthyologist), R. Singh, S. P. Uniyal, Hemant K. Joshi, H. K. Joshi, S. Phurailatpam & M. S. Bisht, 2004 * ''Puntius kyphus'' Plamootitl, 2019 * ''Puntius layardi'' (Albert Günther, Günther, 1868) * ''Puntius madhusoodani'' Kaimal Krishna Kumar, Krishna Kumar, F. G. Benno Pereira, Benno Pereira & Kizhakke Veetil Radhakrishnan, Radhakrishnan, 2012 Krishna Kumar, K., Benno Pereira, F.G. & Radhakrishnan, K.V. (2012)
''Puntius madhusoodani'' (Teleostei: Cyprinidae), a new species of barb from Manimala River, Kerala, South India.
''Biosystematica, 5 (2): 31-37.'' * ''Puntius mahecola'' (Achille Valenciennes, Valenciennes, 1844) (Mahecola barb) * ''Puntius masyai'' Hugh McCormick Smith, H. M. Smith, 1945 * ''Puntius melanostigma'' Francis Day, F. Day, 1878 * ''Puntius morehensis'' Arunkumar & Tombi Singh, 1998 * ''Puntius mudumalaiensis'' Ambat Gopalan Kutty Menon, Menon & Karunakaran Rema Devi, Rema Devi, 1992 * ''Puntius muzaffarpurensis'' Gopal Ji Srivastava, Srivastava, K. P. Verma & R. B. Sharma, 1977 * ''Puntius nangalensis'' Kottore Chidambaram Jayaram, Jayaram, 1990 * ''Puntius nelsoni'' Plamoottil, 2014 (Travancore yellow barb) * ''Puntius nigronotus'' Mathews Plamoottil, Plamoottil, 2014 Plamoottil, M. (2014)
''Puntius nigronotus'', a new fish species (Cypriniformes; Cyprinidae) from Kerala, India.
''Journal of Research in Biology, 4 (8): 1581–1588.'' (Malabar black-backed barb) * ''Puntius ocellus'' Mathews Plamoottil, Plamoottil & Vineeth, 2020Egypt. Acad. J. Biolog. Sci. (B. Zoology) Vol. 12(2) pp: 93-102(2020) * ''Puntius parrah'' Francis Day, F. Day, 1865 (Parrah barb) * ''Puntius paucimaculatus'' Wang You-Huai, Y. H. Wang & Ni Yong, Y. Ni, 1982 * ''Puntius pugio'' Sven Oscar Kullander, S. O. Kullander, 2008 * ''Puntius punjabensis'' (Francis Day, F. Day, 1871) * ''Puntius puntio'' (Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, F. Hamilton, 1822) (Puntio barb) * ''Puntius sahyadriensis'' Eric Godwin Silas, Silas, 1953 (Khavli barb) * ''Puntius sanctus'' Plamoottil 2020 * ''Puntius sealei'' (Albert William Herre, Herre, 1933) * ''Puntius somphongsi'' (Gerhard Benl, Benl & Wolfgang Klausewitz, Klausewitz, 1962) * ''Pool barb, Puntius sophore'' (Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, F. Hamilton, 1822) (Pool barb) * ''Puntius sophoroides'' (Albert Karl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther, Günther, 1868) * ''Puntius spilopterus'' (Henry Weed Fowler, Fowler, 1934) * ''Puntius takhoaensis'' Nguyen & Doan, 1969) * ''Puntius terio'' (Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, F. Hamilton, 1822) (Onespot barb) * ''Puntius tetraspilus'' Albert Günther, Günther, 1868) * ''Puntius thermalis'' Achille Valenciennes, Valenciennes, 1844) * ''Puntius titteya'' Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala, Deraniyagala, 1929 (Cherry barb) * ''Puntius viridis'' Mathews Plamoottil, Plamoottil & Nelson P. Abraham, Abraham, 2014 Plamoottil, M. & Abraham, N.P. (2014)
''Puntius viridis'' (Cypriniformes, Cyprinidae), a new fish species from Kerala, India.
''Journal of Research in Biology, 3 (7): 1093–1104.'' (Spotfin green barb) * ''Puntius vittatus'' Francis Day, F. Day, 1865 (Greenstripe barb) * ''Puntius waageni'' (Francis Day, F. Day, 1872)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q131627 Puntius, Barbs (fish), Cyprinidae genera Fish of Southeast Asia Fish of South Asia Taxa named by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton