Mahecola barbel
| Mahecola barbel | ||||||||||||
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Drawing from Fauna of British India. Fishes by Francis Day . |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Puntius mahecola | ||||||||||||
| ( Valenciennes , 1844) |
The Mahecola barbel ( Puntius mahecola ) is a freshwater fish from the carp family (Cyprinidae). It is endemic to southern India in the state of Kerala .
features
The mahecola barbel becomes 9 centimeters long. Their height is 27 to 32% of the standard length . It is similar to the black-spotted barb ( Puntius filamentosus ) that occurs in the same area and differs from it and from other Puntius species in the region mainly in the smooth, last, simple dorsal fin ray, the missing filament extensions of the divided dorsal fin rays, the pair of barbels on the upper jaw and the scale formula.
- Fin formula : Dorsal : 3 / 8½; Anal : 3 / 5½; Pectorals : 1/14, ventral : 1/8.
- Dandruff formula : SL 22-23 + 1-3.
The Mahecola barbel is olive-colored on the back, silvery with a rosy tinge on the sides and has a whitish belly. A black, elongated and horizontally lying spot is on the rear half of the body above the end of the anal fin. It is about 1½ times as long as it is high and has a height that extends over 3½ scales. Sometimes it extends to the tail fin stalk. Dorsal, caudal and anal fins are yellowish in females, reddish in males, and the edges of the dorsal fin are sometimes gray. The pectoral and ventral fins are transparent. The forked caudal fin has a black spot on each tip, with a red spot underneath. Male Mahecola barbels have a rosy spot on the gill cover.
Way of life
The Mahecola barbel occurs in slow-flowing waters with a muddy or sandy bottom in the coastal plains of Kerala. It is not common anywhere.
literature
- Rohan Pethiyagoda, Maurice Kottelat : The identity of the south Indian barb Puntius mahecola (Teleostei: Cyprinidae). Raffles Bull. 2005 Supplement No. 12: 145-152 PDF; 122 kB ( Memento from September 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
Web links
- Mahecola barbel on Fishbase.org (English)
- Puntius mahecola inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Listed by: Abraham, R., 2011. Retrieved December 14, 2013.