Puntius

<i>Puntius</i>

Puntius

Genus of fishes

Not to be confused with Puntigrus.

Quick Facts Puntius, Scientific classification ...

Puntius is a genus of small freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae native to South Asia and Mainland Southeast Asia, as well as Taiwan.[1]

Many species formerly placed in Puntius have been moved to other genera such as Barbodes, Dawkinsia, Desmopuntius, Haludaria, Oliotius, Pethia, Puntigrus, Sahyadria and Systomus.[2][3][4]

Previously, it was assumed that the earliest record of this genus was the fossil species Puntius bussyi from the Eocene of Sumatra, but a 2020 study reclassified this species into the new genus Pauciuncus, possibly in the subfamily Smiliogastrinae.[5]

Etymology

Puti maach (Puntius fish) in West Bengal, India.

The name Puntius comes from Pungti (Pronounced Puti), a 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 Mainland Southeast Asia, with a single species, P. snyderi, in Taiwan.[1][2] The greatest species richness is in India.[1]

Description

Puntius of West Bengal, India
Cherry barb (Puntius titteya), male below and female above.

The maximum size for an adult of this genus is 25 cm (10 in), but most species reach 7–15 cm (2.8–5.9 in) and some species do not surpass 5 cm (2 in).[1] In appearance they may resemble miniature carp and are sometimes brightly coloured or patterned.[1]

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 epithet remains the same in these – except in cases of 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" barbs and 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 evolved convergently with barbs.

Species

These are the currently recognized species in this genus:

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Puntius.
  1. [1]
    Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2016). Species of Puntius in FishBase. June 2016 version.
  2. [2]
    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. Archived 2015-01-06 at the Wayback Machine Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Suppl. No. 27: 1–663.
  3. [3]
    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.
  4. [4]
    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.
  5. [5]
    Murray, Alison M. (2020-01-02). "Early Cenozoic Cyprinoids (Ostariophysi: Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae and Danionidae) from Sumatra, Indonesia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 40 (1): e1762627. doi:10.1080/02724634.2020.1762627. ISSN 0272-4634.
  6. [6]
    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.
  7. [7]
    Plamoottil, M. (2014): Puntius nigronotus, a new fish species (Cypriniformes; Cyprinidae) from Kerala, India. Journal of Research in Biology, 4 (8): 1581–1588.
  8. [8]
    Egypt. Acad. J. Biolog. Sci. (B. Zoology) Vol. 12(2) pp: 93-102(2020)
  9. [9]
    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.
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