Reba carp: Cirrhina reba
Systematic position:
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Cypriniformes (Carps)
Family: Cyprinidae (Carps and minnows)
Genus: Cirrhina
Species: C. reba
Synonyms: Labeo ariza (Hamilton, 1807), Cirrhinus reba (Hamilton, 1822), Gobio limnophilus (McClelland, 1839), Gobio bovianus (Jerdon, 1849).
Common/Local names: Reba, Raik, Bata, Aikhor, Raikhor (Bangladesh); Reba carp (English); Reba (Fishbase).
Distribution: Bangladesh, India and Punjab (Bhuiyan, 1964). Also in Nepal (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
Conservation status: Vulnerable in Bangladesh (IUCN, 2000)
Morphology: The body is elongated and laterally compressed. Dorsal profile more convex than that of abdomen. Mouth inferior and a pair of rostral barbels. Body covered with hexagonal scales. Silver body color. Scales are darkest at their upper and lower edges.
Maximum length reported 60 cm (Hamilton, 1822), 22 cm (Bhuiyan, 1964), 32.5 cm (Rahman, 1989), 30 cm (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991) and 29.3 cm (Hussain, 1999). Highest length measured 23.5 cm in 2007 in the Chalan Beel of Bangladesh.
Head 23.9% SL and 19.1% TL. Height 26.6% SL and 21.3% TL. Eye 24.4% HL. Lateral line present and complete with about 36-38 scales.
Fin formula: D. 10-11 (2-3/8); P1. 16-17; P2. 9; A. 8(3/5) (Rahman, 1989)
Habitat: All rivers and clear streams of Bangladesh (Bhuiyan, 1964). Found also in tanks, canals, ponds, beels and inundated fields (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991; Rahman, 1989). Recorded in Chalan Beel (Galib et al., 2009)
Food and feeding: Plankton and detritus feeder (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Feed on mud, vegetables, crustaceans and insect larvae (Bhuiyan, 1964). Food contents are algae (10%), higher plants (70%), protozoa (5%), crustaceans (10%) and mud and sands (5%) (Mookerjee et al., 1946)
Breeding: Breeds in the beginning of summer when there is excessive rainfall (Bhuiyan, 1964). Between June-September, breeding found in flooded shallows (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
Economics importance: Used as food fish in Bangladesh.
Harvesting and marketing: Flesh is oily and tasteful and liked by the consumers (Rahman, 1989).
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References
Bhuiyan AL. 1964. Fishes of Dacca, Asiat. Soc. Pakistan, Pub. 1, No. 13, Dacca, pp. 29-30.
Day F. 1878. Fishes of India: being a Natural History of the Fishes Known to Inhabit the Sea and Freshwater of India, Ceylon and Burma, Atlas in 4th part, London, 778 p.
Galib SM, Samad MA, Mohsin ABM, Flowra FA and Alam MT. 2009. Present Status of Fishes in the Chalan Beel- the Largest Beel (Wetland) of Bangladesh, Int. J. Ani. Fish. Sci. 2(3): 214-218.
Hamilton F (Buchanan). 1822. An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches, Edinburgh & London, Fishes Ganges, pp. 1-405.
Hamilton F. 1807. A journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, London. Journey from Madras. pp. 1-479.
Hussain MM. 1999. Fishes and Fisheries of the River Atrai in Rajshahi with Reference to its Limnology, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Department of Zoology, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, pp. 5-200.
IUCN Bangladesh. 2000. Red Book of Threatened Fishes of Bangladesh, IUCN- The World Conservation Union, 116 p.
Jerdon, T. C., 1849. On the fresh-water fishes of southern India. (Continued from p. 149.), Madras J. Lit. Sci., pp. 302-346.
McClelland, J., 1839. Indian Cyprinidae, Asiatic Researches, pp. 217-471.
Mookerjee HK, Sen Gupta SN and Roy Choudhury DN. 1946. Food and its percentage composition of the common adult food fishes of Bengal, Sci. & Cult. Calcutta, 12(7):247.
Rahman AKA. 1989. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 1st edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 123-124.
Talwar PK and Jhingran AG. 1991. Inland Fishes of India and Adjacent Countries, Vol. I, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi-Calcutta, pp. 173-174.
Shams Muhammad Galib: at a glance
Lecturer, Department of Fisheries, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Ex-student, Department of Fisheries, University of Rajshahi. Email: thegalib@gmail.com. More...
