Taxonomy & naming
Puntius morehensis was described by Arunkumar and Singh in 1998, published in the Journal of Natural Conservation. The specific epithet morehensis refers to Moreh, the border town in Manipur, India, near which the type specimens were collected — the type locality is recorded as Moreh, Manipur.
The species was assigned to Puntius at the time of description and is retained there under the current Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer, CAS) treatment. Following Pethiyagoda et al. (2012), most peninsular Indian and Sri Lankan barbs that had accumulated in the old catch-all Puntius were reassigned to a suite of resurrected or new genera (Pethia, Dawkinsia, Systomus, and others), but morehensis — from northeastern India rather than the peninsular or Sri Lankan radiation — has not been moved and continues to be listed as Puntius morehensis (Arunkumar & Singh, 1998). The parenthetical authority marks that the original combination used a different generic placement in the original description text.
The species is included in comprehensive inventories of Indian endemic fishes and confirmed as new in the 1998 description. No synonyms are recorded.
Morphology
FishBase records a maximum standard length of 4.5 in for Puntius morehensis, placing it among the mid-sized members of its genus. Beyond this, morphological data in the published literature is sparse for this species; the original description by Arunkumar and Singh (1998) provides the diagnostic characters but has not been widely reproduced in secondary sources.
As a member of Puntius sensu stricto, the species shares the typical barb body plan: a moderately deep, laterally compressed form, a subterminal mouth suited to benthic and mid-water foraging, and the small scales characteristic of this group. Detailed coloration, fin-ray counts, and lateral-line scale data are not available in accessible secondary sources at the time of writing.
Habitat
Puntius morehensis occurs in slow-flowing rivers with sand-mud substrates in the lowlands of Manipur. The type locality is the Moreh area, which lies within the Yu River drainage — a tributary system that flows southward into Myanmar and ultimately into the Chindwin and Irrawaddy basin. This places the species at the edge of the Indo-Myanmar biodiversity hotspot.
FishBase records the species as tropical and benthopelagic, with an indicative temperature of 81 °F, pH of 7, and hardness of 10 dH. These parameters suggest adaptation to warm, near-neutral, moderately hard lowland river water rather than the cool, fast, well-oxygenated hill streams that characterize some other Manipuri fishes. The sand-mud substrate preference noted in endemism surveys is consistent with a benthopelagic lifestyle in slower reaches of the drainage.
Feeding
No detailed dietary study of Puntius morehensis has been published in accessible sources. Like other members of the genus living in lowland river systems with sand-mud beds, it likely forages opportunistically on small invertebrates — insect larvae, worms and microcrustaceans — along with algae and organic detritus picked from the substrate.
The benthopelagic designation on FishBase is consistent with a fish that feeds both along the bottom and in the water column rather than being strictly a surface or bottom feeder. In the absence of stomach-content data, diet is inferred from the ecology of closely related Puntius species in comparable northeastern Indian river habitats.
Mating
No behavioural observations of wild or captive spawning have been published for Puntius morehensis. As a member of the barb family (Cyprinidae), it is expected to follow the egg-scattering, non-guarding reproductive strategy universal in the group. In barbs generally, a ripe male pursues a gravid female through vegetation or over the substrate, and eggs and milt are released together without nest-building, pair bonding, or territorial defence beyond transient courtship chasing.
Spawning in northeastern Indian river barbs is often linked to seasonal cues — rising water levels and warmer temperatures associated with the pre-monsoon and monsoon period — but specific breeding seasonality for this species in the Yu River system has not been documented.
Breeding
Breeding details for Puntius morehensis in aquaria or the wild are not recorded in the available literature. By analogy with other Puntius-group barbs of similar size, it would be expected to scatter small adhesive eggs over fine-leaved plants, roots, or sandy substrate, with no parental care thereafter. Adults in most barb species will consume their own eggs if they remain accessible.
The species is not known to be established in the aquarium trade, so husbandry experience is absent. Data on clutch size, incubation period, and larval development remain undescribed.
In the aquarium
Puntius morehensis is not an established aquarium fish and is not found in the ornamental trade. It is known only from collections made for scientific purposes in Manipur. For this reason, no aquarium-care information exists for the species.
Should it become available, the habitat data suggest that warm, near-neutral water (around 81 °F, pH 7, moderate hardness) over a sandy or fine-gravel substrate would be appropriate, consistent with its slow-flowing lowland river habitat. Its mid-range size of up to 4.5 in SL would require a suitably spacious aquarium. Like other barbs it would be expected to thrive in groups.
Conservation
Puntius morehensis has not been assessed by the IUCN Red List and carries no formal conservation status. One secondary source (Venkataraman's Endemic Animals of India) lists it as Data Deficient under an Indian domestic categorisation, reflecting the limited information available on its population size and trends.
The species is a confirmed endemic to Manipur state and is associated with the Yu River drainage — a single, relatively small river system. Surveys of Indian endemic fishes note ecosystem instability and loss of fish diversity as documented threats to Manipur's freshwater fauna, including pressures from agriculture-driven siltation, water extraction, and anthropogenic modification of riparian zones. The narrow endemic range, dependence on a single watershed, and complete absence of an IUCN assessment mean that the conservation outlook for this species is poorly understood; targeted surveys and a formal IUCN evaluation would be a priority.