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, Dawkinsia, Desmopuntius, Haludaria, Oliotius, Pethia, Puntigrus, Sahyadria and Systomus.[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.]
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.
Etymology
The name
Puntius comes from
Pungti (Pronounced
Puti), a
Bengali language 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,
Puntius snyderi, in
Taiwan.
[ The greatest species richness is in India.][
]
Description
The fish measurement 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 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.
This genus is classified within the subfamily Smiliogastrinae by Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes.
Species
These are the currently recognized species in this genus:
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Puntius ambassis (Francis Day, 1869)
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Puntius amphibius (Valenciennes, 1842) (Scarlet-banded barb)
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Puntius arenatus (Day, 1878) (Arenatus barb)
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Puntius brevis (Pieter Bleeker, 1849) (Swamp barb)
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Puntius burmanicus (Day, 1878)
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Puntius cauveriensis (Hora, 1937) (Cauvery barb)
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Puntius chola (Hamilton, 1822) (Chola barb)
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Puntius crescentus Yazdani & Singh, 1994
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Puntius deccanensis Yazdani & Babu Rao, 1976 (Deccan barb)
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Puntius dolichopterus Plamoottil, 2015 (Longfin Kerala barb)
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Puntius dorsalis (Jerdon, 1849) (Long-snouted barb)
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Puntius euspilurus Plamoottil, 2016
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Puntius fraseri (Hora & Misra, 1938) (Dharna barb)
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Puntius kamalika Anjana Silva, Kalana Maduwage & Pethiyagoda, 2008
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Puntius kelumi Pethiyagoda, Silva, Maduwage & Meegaskumbura, 2008
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Puntius khohi Dobriyal, R. Singh, Uniyal, H. K. Joshi, Phurailatpam & Bisht, 2004
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Pethia khugae (Linthoingambi & Vishwanath 2007)
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Puntius kyphus Plamoottil, 2019
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Puntius layardi (Günther, 1868) (layard's barb)
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Puntius madhusoodani Kumar, Benno Pereira & Radhakrishnan, 2012
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Puntius mahecola (Valenciennes, 1844) (Mahecola barb)
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Puntius masyai Smith, 1945
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Puntius mudumalaiensis Menon & Rema Devi, 1992
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Puntius muzaffarpurensis Srivastava, Verma & Sharma, 1977
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Puntius nangalensis Jayaram, 1990
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Puntius nelsoni Plamoottil, 2014 (Travancore yellow barb)
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Puntius nigronotus Plamoottil, 2014 (Malabar black-backed barb)
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Puntius ocellus Plamoottil & Vineeth, 2020
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Puntius parrah Day, 1865 (Parrah barb)
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Puntius punjabensis (Day, 1871)
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Puntius sanctus Plamoottil, 2020
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Puntius snyderi Ōshima, 1919
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Puntius sophore (Hamilton, 1822) (Pool barb)
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Puntius sophoroides (Günther, 1868)
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Puntius stigma (Valenciennes, 1844)
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Puntius terio (Hamilton, 1822) (Onespot barb)
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Puntius thermalis (Valenciennes, 1844)
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Puntius viridis Plamoottil & Abraham 2014
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Puntius waageni (Day, 1872)
