Puntius is a genus of small freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae native to South Asia and Mainland Southeast Asia, as well as Taiwan.
Many species formerly placed in Puntius have been moved to other genera such as Barbodes, Dawkinsia, Desmopuntius, Haludaria, Oliotius, Pethia, Puntigrus, Sahyadria and Systomus.
Previously, it was assumed that the earliest record of this genus was the fossil species Puntius bussyi from the Eocene of Sumatra, but a 2020 study reclassified this species into the new genus Pauciuncus, possibly in the subfamily Smiliogastrinae.
Etymology
thumb|Punti maach (Puntius fish) in [[West Bengal, India.]]
The name Puntius comes from (, ), a term for small cyprinids.The Bengali word is inherited via Prakrit from Sanskrit .
Range
Fishes of the genus Puntius are found in South Asia (west to Pakistan and south to Sri Lanka) and Mainland Southeast Asia, with a single species, P. snyderi, in Taiwan.
Species
These are the currently recognized species in this genus:
- Puntius amphibius <small>(Valenciennes, 1842)</small> (Scarlet-banded barb)
- Puntius arenatus <small>(Day, 1878)</small> (Arenatus barb)
- Puntius brevis <small>(Bleeker, 1849)</small> (Swamp barb)
- Puntius burmanicus <small>(Day, 1878)</small>
- Puntius cauveriensis <small>(Hora, 1937)</small> (Cauvery barb)
- Puntius chola <small>(Hamilton, 1822)</small> (Chola barb)
- Puntius crescentus <small>Yazdani & Singh, 1994</small>
- Puntius deccanensis <small>Yazdani & Babu Rao, 1976</small> (Deccan barb)
- Puntius dolichopterus <small>Plamoottil, 2015</small> (Longfin Kerala barb)
- Puntius dorsalis <small>(Jerdon, 1849)</small> (Long-snouted barb)
- Puntius euspilurus <small>Plamoottil, 2016</small>
- Puntius fraseri <small>(Hora & Misra, 1938)</small> (Dharna barb)
- Puntius kamalika <small>Silva, Maduwage & Pethiyagoda, 2008</small>
- Puntius kelumi <small>Pethiyagoda, Silva, Maduwage & Meegaskumbura, 2008</small>
- Puntius khohi <small>Dobriyal, R. Singh, Uniyal, H. K. Joshi, Phurailatpam & Bisht, 2004</small>
- Puntius kyphus <small>Plamoottil, 2019</small>
- Puntius layardi <small>(Günther, 1868)</small> (layard's barb)
- Puntius madhusoodani <small>Kumar, Benno Pereira & Radhakrishnan, 2012</small>
- Puntius mahecola <small>(Valenciennes, 1844)</small> (Mahecola barb)
- Puntius masyai <small>Smith, 1945</small>
- Puntius mudumalaiensis <small>Menon & Rema Devi, 1992</small>
- Puntius muzaffarpurensis <small>Srivastava, Verma & Sharma, 1977</small>
- Puntius nangalensis <small>Jayaram, 1990</small>
- Puntius nelsoni <small>Plamoottil, 2014</small> (Travancore yellow barb)
- Puntius nigronotus <small>Plamoottil, 2014</small> (Malabar black-backed barb)
- Puntius ocellus <small>Plamoottil & Vineeth, 2020</small>
- Puntius parrah <small>Day, 1865</small> (Parrah barb)
- Puntius punjabensis <small>(Day, 1871)</small>
- Puntius sanctus <small>Plamoottil, 2020</small>
- Puntius snyderi <small>Ōshima, 1919</small>
- Puntius sophore <small>(Hamilton, 1822)</small> (Pool barb)
- Puntius sophoroides <small>(Günther, 1868)</small>
- Puntius stigma <small>(Valenciennes, 1844)</small>
- Puntius terio (Hamilton, 1822) (Onespot barb)
- Puntius thermalis <small>(Valenciennes, 1844)</small>
- Puntius viridis <small>Plamoottil & Abraham 2014</small>
- Puntius waageni <small>(Day, 1872)</small>