Golden barb, Puntius gelius (Hamilton, 1822)
Golden barb, Puntius gelius (Hamilton, 1822)

Systematic position
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Cypriniformes (Carps)
Superfamily: Cyprinoidea
Family: Cyprinidae (Minnows and carps)
Subfamily: Barbinae
Genus: Puntius 
Species: P. terio

Synonyms
Barbus gelius (Hamilton, 1822)
Cyprinus canius Hamilton, 1822
Cyprinus gelius Hamilton, 1822
Systomus gelius
(Hamilton, 1822)

Common/local names
English: Golden barb and Golden dwarf barb
Bangladesh: Jelly puti (জেলি পুঁটি), Gili puti (গিলি পুঁটি), Khudi puti (খুদি পুঁটি), Dor puti (ডর পুঁটি) and Puti (পুঁটি)
India: Gilipungti (West Bengal) and Cutturpoh (Orissa) (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Distributions: Bangladesh, India (Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Orissa) and Pakistan (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Conservation status: Data Deficient in Bangladesh (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000).

Morphology: Elongate body moderately compressed. Mouth small, moderate, slightly oblique with no barbels and upper jaw slightly longer. Last unbranched ray of dorsal fin osseous and serrated. dorsal originate nearer to snout tip than caudal base. Pelvics originate below that of dorsal and pectoral as long as head excluding snout. Scales fairly small and lateral line incomplete.

Body reddish brown. Back olive-green to brownish; throat and belly silvery white. A black band over a tail to little anterior base of caudal fin. Iris pale green, mouth tinged with black. Pectoral fins hyaline, caudal fin delicate reddish and other fins hyaline with a yellowish tinge.

Head 3.3-3.8 in standard, 4.5-4.9 in total length. Height 2.6-3.0 in standard, 3.4-4.0 in total length. Eye 2.0-3.3; snout 0.7-0.9; interorbital 1.0-1.2 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005).

Fin formula:
D. 10-11 (2-3/8);  P1. 14;  P2. 9;  A. 8 (3/5) (Rahman, 1989 and 2005)
D ii-iii 8;  A iii 5;  P i 14;  V i 8 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991)
D. 10-11 (2-3/8); P. 15; V. 9; A. 8 (3/5); C. 19 (Shafi and Quddus, 2001)

Maximum lengths: 5.1 cm (Rahman, 1989 and 2005), 4 cm (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991) and 5 cm (Shafi and Quddus, 2001).

Habitats: Inhibits standing waters (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Found incanals, beels, baors and rivers (Shafi and Quddus, 2001). Abundantly found from May to October (Rahman, 1989 and 2005).

Fishery info: Used as food fish in Bangladesh. Also important as aquarium fish, suitable for community tank (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Caught by cast net, veshal net and dharma net (Shafi and Quddus, 2001).

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REFERENCES

Hamilton F (1822) An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches. Edinburgh & London. An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches.: i-vii + 1-405, Pls. 1-39.

IUCN Bangladesh (2000) Red book of threatened fishes of Bangladesh, IUCN- The world conservation union. xii+116 pp.

Rahman AKA (1989) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 1st edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 132-133.

Rahman AKA (2005) Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 2nd edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, p. 151.

Shafi M and Quddus MMA (2001) Bangladesher Matsho Shampad (Fisheries of Bangladesh) (in Bengali), Kabir publication. Dhaka, Bangladesh. pp. 131-132.

Talwar PK and Jhingran AG (1991) Inland Fishes of India and Adjacent Countries, Vol. 1, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi-Calcutta, pp. 272-273.

 


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Golden barb, Puntius gelius (Hamilton, 1822)

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Md. Foyzul Hassan Fahad

Student, Department of Fisheries, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh. More...

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