Barbs · waters

The waters behind the fish

Barbs are creatures of moving water — a monsoon hill stream in the Western Ghats, a flooded paddy on the Gangetic plain, a tannin-black peat swamp in Borneo, a savanna river in the African dry season, a cool gravel-bedded barbel reach in Europe. Knowing which system a species comes from — its flow, temperature and hardness — is the foundation of keeping it well, and explains why a Cape redfin and a Sundaland blackwater barb want such different tanks. Here are the freshwater systems that shaped 788 of the 882 species in this atlas.

India & the Gangetic plain

64 species

South Asia · India, Nepal & Bangladesh

The rivers, tanks and flooded paddies of the northern Indian plains — the Ganges and Brahmaputra basins. Home of the rosy and ticto barbs (Pethia) and a wide range of plains Puntius and Systomus that fill the slow lowland waters.

The Western Ghats

79 species

South Asia · peninsular India

The monsoon-fed hill streams and rivers of India's western mountains, a global freshwater biodiversity hotspot. The range of the denison or roseline barb (Sahyadria), the filament barbs (Dawkinsia), the melon barb (Haludaria) and many large endemic Hypselobarbus — and a centre of barb conservation concern.

Sri Lanka

15 species

South Asia · Sri Lanka

The wet-zone rainforest streams and lowland tanks of Sri Lanka — a small island with a remarkable endemic barb fauna of Pethia, Dawkinsia and Systomus, several restricted to a handful of shrinking drainages.

The Mekong & Chao Phraya

111 species

Mainland Indochina · Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam

The great floodplains of mainland Southeast Asia — the Mekong, Chao Phraya and Mae Klong with their paddies, swamps and oxbows. The home of the tiger barb (Puntigrus), the tinfoil and silver barbs (Barbonymus), the hampala, and the river giants: the giant barb (Catlocarpio) and the mahseer-like Probarbus.

Sundaland

47 species

Sundaland · Malay Peninsula, Sumatra & Borneo

The clear forest streams and acid blackwater peat swamps of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. A centre of small-barb diversity — the six-banded and other Desmopuntius, the clown barb (Barbodes) and the checkerboard barbs (Oliotius) of tannin-stained Sundaic water.

East Asia

21 species

Subtropical East Asia · China, Taiwan & northern Vietnam

The subtropical rivers and hill streams of southern China, Taiwan and northern Vietnam — the eastern edge of the barb range, with a scatter of Barbodes, Hampala and allied river barbs of the Pearl and Red River systems.

West & Central Africa

210 species

Tropical Africa · the Congo, Niger & Guinea forests

The rainforest rivers and savanna streams of West and Central Africa — the Congo, Niger, Volta and the Guinean drainages. The core range of the small African barbs (Enteromius), an enormous radiation of plain, hardy fishes filling almost every flowing water of the region.

The Nile & East Africa

83 species

Sudano-Sahelian & East Africa · the Nile, Chad & Rift

The Sudanian savanna and the East African Rift — the Nile, Lake Chad, the Rift lakes and their inflows. Home of widespread Enteromius and the first of the great yellowfish and large African barbs (Labeobarbus) of the highland rivers.

Southern Africa & the Cape

51 species

Southern Africa · the Zambezi, Orange & Cape rivers

The rivers of southern Africa — the Zambezi and Okavango, the Orange–Vaal, and the cool Cape fold-mountain streams. The range of the yellowfish (Labeobarbus), the threatened redfin minnows (Pseudobarbus) of the Cape, and many small Enteromius of the highveld and bushveld.

Europe & the Danube

24 species

Temperate Europe · the Danube, Rhine & Atlantic rivers

The cool, flowing rivers of temperate Europe — the Danube, Rhine, Loire and the Atlantic and North Sea drainages. The home of the true barbels (Barbus), bottom-oriented, often migratory river fish that gave the whole group its name.

The Mediterranean & Middle East

83 species

Mediterranean basin, North Africa & western Asia

The rivers and springs of the Mediterranean borderlands and western Asia — Iberia, the Maghreb, Anatolia, the Levant and Mesopotamia. The range of Luciobarbus, Capoeta and the western barbels, many of them narrow-range endemics of drying, heavily-used catchments.

Other Old-World waters

94 species

Asia, Africa & Europe

Barbs whose recorded range falls outside, or spans, the named systems above — including many small, little-collected African and Asian species known from a single river, and widespread fishes carried far by stocking. Old-World freshwater hydrology is intricate and incompletely mapped, and barb taxonomy is still moving.

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