Spot-fin swamp barb: Puntius sophore

Synonyms:

Cyprinus sophore: Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822.

Leuciscus stigma: Valenciennes, 1844.

Barbus stigma: Day, 1878, 1889; Shaw and Shebberare, 1937.

Barbus (Puntius) sophore: Bhuiyan, 1964; Qureshi, 1965.

Puntius stigma: Rahman, 1974.

Puntius sophore: Menon, 1974.

 

Common name: Spot-fin swamp barb (English name)

Bangla name: Punti, Jal punti, Vadi punti

 

Taxonomic position:

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Osteichthyes

Order: Cypriniformes

Family: Cyprinidae

Sub family: Cyprininae

Genus: Puntius

Species: P. sophore

Morphological description:

A dark spot is present at tip of tail and another at base of dorsal fin rays. Body is moderately compressed. Dorsal profile is more convex than that of abdomen. Mouth is small, terminal and upper jaw is slightly longer. Barbells are absent. Pectoral fin is as long as head excluding snout. Pelvic originate a little behind the origin of dorsal. Lateral line is complete. In life body colour is silvery, back grey-green to brownish, flanks with a some what bluish luster, underside white. (Rahman, 2005; Talwar and Jhingran, 2001 and Bhuiyan, 1964).

 

Fin formula:

D. 3-4/8-9, P₁. 1/14-17, P₂. 1/7-8, A. 2-3/7-8.

D. 3-4/8-9, P₁. 1/14-17, P₂. 1/7-8, A. 2-3/7-8 (Talwar and Jhingran, 2001)

D. 3/8, P_1.15, P₂. 1/8. A. 3/5 (Rahman, 2005)

Scales number on the lateral line series is 20 to 25. Scales number above the lateral line is 8 to 10. Scales number below the lateral line is 3 to 4. Scales number is mentioned by other writers is follows, 24-26 scales on the lateral line series (Rahman, 2005), 22-27 scales on the lateral line series (Talwar and Jhingran, 2001).

 

Habit and habitat:

Surface inhabitant fish and taking miscellaneous types of food. Found in beels, ponds, rivers, floodplains, baors, haors and everywhere in Bangladesh (Shafi and Quddus, 1982).

 

Breeding time:

It breeds during monsoon season. During breeding period, in male fish, a scarlet red band develops along middle of both sides. This is less distinct in female fish (Bhuiyan, 1964).

 

Economic importance:

This is an important Small Indigenous Species (SIS) of fish of Bangladesh. It found abundantly everywhere in Bangladesh. it is very much famous food fish item (Rahman, 2005).

Ecological role:

Surface dweller fish and takes small insects, algae and planktons and in culture pond, it takes rice bran, oil cake, rice polish and other supplementary feed (Shafi and Quddus, 1982).

 

Marketing status:

Marketing price is varied between 80-90 Tk/kg.

 

References:

Bhuiyan, A.L. 1964. Fishes of Dacca. Asiatic Soc. Pakistan, Publ. No. 13, Dacca. p.36.

Day, F. 1878. Fishes of India. William Dowson and Sons., London. p. 579.

Hamilton-Buchanan, F. 1822. Fishes of the Ganges. Archibald Constable and Company, Edinburgh. p.260.

Menon, 1974. Fishes of the Himalayan and Indo-Gangetic Plains. p. 40.

Qureshi, M.R. 1965. Common Freshwater fishes of Pakistan. Karachi. p. 23.

Rahman, A.K.A. 1974. Freshwater Fisheries Research Station Bulletin No. 1. p. 154.

Rahman, A.K.A. 2005. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh. The Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka. p. 133.

Shafi, M. and Quddus, M.M.A. 1982. Bangladesher Matshaw Sampod (in Bengali). Bangla Academy. Dhaka. pp. 121-122.

Shaw, G.E. and Shebbeare, E.O. 1937. Fishes of Northern Bengal. J. Royal Asiat. Soc. Bengal Science. p. 42.

Talwar, P.K. and Jhingran, A.G. 2001. Inland Fishes of India and Adjacent countries. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi. p. 288.

Valenciennes, A. and Cuvier, G. 1844. (in French) Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome septieme. Livre septieme. Des squamipennes. Livre huitieme. Des poissons a pharyngiens labyrinthiformes. Hist. Nat. Poiss. p. 93.

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