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The cherry barb (''Rohanella titteya'') is a tropical
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 ...
belonging to the family 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 ...
. It is endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
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 introduced populations have become established in Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
. The cherry barb was named ''Puntius titteya'' by Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala
Paulus Edward Pieris Deraniyagala (1900–1976) was a Sri Lankan paleontologist, zoologist, and artist.
Early life and education
He was born in Colombo, the son of Paul Edward Pieris and Lady Hilda Obeyesekere Pieris. He had two younger brothe ...
in 1929. Synonyms
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...
include ''Barbus titteya'' and ''Capoeta titteya''. It is the only species in the genus ''Rohanella''.
The species is commercially important in the aquarium trade
Fishkeeping is a popular hobby, practiced by aquarists, concerned with keeping fish in a home aquarium or garden pond. It is a practice that encompasses the art of maintaining one's own aquatic ecosystem, featuring a lot of variety with various ...
and farmed in larger numbers, but it remains threatened by overcollection and habitat loss. Cherry barbs are very popular aquarium fish, due to their vibrant red colors.
Taxonomy
The cherry barb was first formally described as ''Puntius titteya'' in 1929 by the Sri Lankannaturalist
Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
Paul E. P. Deraniyagala with its type locality given as Ambagaspitiya in Sri Lanka. In 2023 Hiranya Sudasinghe
Hiranya ("gold" in Sanskrit) may refer to:
Given name
*Hiranya Peiris (born 1974), British astrophysicist
*Hiranya Herath (born 1986), Sri Lankan lawyer and politician
*Hiranyamayee Lama, Bhutanese politician, elected to the Tshogdu in 1979
Other ...
, Lukas Rüber and Madhava Meegaskumbura proposed that this species be classified within the new monospecific genus
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...
''Rohanella''.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 ...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 ...
within the family Cyprinidae.
Etymology
The cherry barb is the only species in the genus ''Rohanella'', this name honours the Sri Lankan biologistRohan Pethiyagoda
Rohan David Pethiyagoda is a Sri Lankan biodiversity scientist, amphibian and freshwater-fish taxonomist, author, conservationist and public-policy advocate.
Early life and career
Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 19 November 1955 Pethiyagoda ha ...
, whofirst recognised that some Sri Lankan barbs formerly classified in the genus ''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'', '' D ...
'' should be reclassified in seaparte genera. The specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
''tittaya'' is the Sinhala name for this fish.
Description
The cherry barb is a small elongated fish with a relatively compressed body. It reaches in length. The female is fawn-colored on top with a slight greenish sheen. Its sides and belly have gleaming silver highlights. It may have a rosy tone on its back and upper sides. A horizontal stripe extends from the tip of the snout through the eye to the base of thecaudal fin
Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...
. The male has a reddish color, becoming very deep red when breeding, and a more slender body shape. The females have two pinkish color stripes down their sides, also becoming darker when ready to breed.
Habitat
The cherry barb's naturalhabitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
is a heavily shaded, shallow, and calm water body. Its native substrate
Substrate may refer to:
Physical layers
*Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached
** Substrate (aquatic environment), the earthy material that exi ...
is silt
Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...
y with leaf
A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...
cover. It comes from a tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...
climate and prefers water with a pH of 6 to 8, a water hardness ( dH) of 5 to 19, and a temperature range of .
In the aquarium
The fish is most often kept in community tanks by aquarium hobbyists. The cherry barb is aschooling
A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of fo ...
fish and is best kept in groups of five or more individuals, though the schools are often less discrete than those of other barbs. Within these schools, there will most likely be a hierarchy. There should be a ratio of at least two females to one male. The male will constantly harass the females to breed, and if there are multiple females, each can escape the attention of the male for a time. The average life span is four years, with a maximum of around seven years. The tank should have abundant plant material (about two-thirds to three-quarters of the tank), but the fish also needs open space to swim. It tends to hide and will often withdraw under the cover of plants. The younger male is generally peaceful, but a mature male can be aggressive when breeding. Appropriate tankmates include '' Rasbora'' and similar calm fish.
Breeding
When breeding, the male swims just behind the female, chasing away rival males. The female willspawn
Spawn or spawning may refer to:
* Spawning, the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals
Arts, entertainment and media
* Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise
** ''Spawn: Armageddon' ...
200 to 300 eggs and scatter them on plants and the substrate. It may eat its own eggs and small fry. The eggs hatch in one to two days and the fry are free-swimming after two more days. After five weeks, the hatchlings will be about 1 cm. long and easily identifiable as cherry barbs.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q637598 Smiliogastrinae Barbs (fish) Freshwater fish of Sri Lanka Fish described in 1929