Barb (fish)

Not to be confused with barbel (fish).

A barb is one of various ray-finned fish species in a non-phylogenetic group, with members in the family Cyprinidae, and especially the genera Barbus and Puntius, but many others also. They were formerly united with the barbels in the subfamily Barbinae but that group is paraphyletic with the Cyprininae. If the Labeoninae are recognized as distinct, many small African "barbs" would probably, however, warrant recognition as a new subfamily.

A typical barb (Odessa barb, Puntius sp.

The root of the word "barb" is common in cyprinid names of European languages, from the Latin barba ("beard") (COD):

• barb from Catalan
• barbi from Finnish
• barbo from Spanish
• barbeau from French
• barbo from Italian

and many others. This is in reference to the barbels which are prominently seen around the mouth of many "barbs".

Barbus haasi, one of several species known as Redtail barb

Genera

Genera that contain species with common names including "barb":

• Amatolacypris
• Balantiocheilos – burnt-tailed barb
• Barbichthys
• Barbodes
• Barboides
• Barbonymus – tinfoil barbs
• Barbopsis
• Barbus – typical barbels
• Caecobarbus
• Capoeta
• Carasobarbus
• Catlocarpio
• Coptostomabarbus
• Cyclocheilichthys
• Dawkinsia
• Desmopuntius
• Discherodontus
• Eechathalakenda
• Enteromius – African barbs
• Esomus – flying barbs
• Garra

• Hypselobarbus
• Hypsibarbus
• Labeobarbus
• Labiobarbus
• Leptobarbus
• Luciobarbus (may belong in Barbus)
• Megarasbora
• Namaquacypris
• Osteochilus
• Paracapoeta
• Pethia
• Poropuntius
• Probarbus
• Puntigrus
• Puntioplites
• Puntius
• Raiamas – trout barb
• Sahyadria
• Sawbwa – Sawbwa Barb
• Waikhomia

See also

• Barbel (fish)

References

• de Graaf, Martin; Megens, Hendrik-Jan; Samallo, Johannis & Sibbing, Ferdinand A. (2007): Evolutionary origin of Lake Tana's (Ethiopia) small Barbus species: indications of rapid ecological divergence and speciation. Anim. Biol. 57(1): 39-48. doi:10.1163/157075607780002069 (HTML abstract)

External links

• "Barbs fish species profiles". Archived from the original on June 22, 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-11.