A new ‘tiger barb’, Systomus navjotsodhii, is described by prominent ichthyologist Dr. Heok Hui Tan in the latest supplement of the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, the specific name chosen in honour of the late Professor Navjot S. Sodhi.

Live individual of Systomus navjotsodhii. © Heok Hui Tan

The new species is known only from the upper Katingan and Barito river basins in the Indonesian province of Kalimantan Tengah (Central Kalimantan) and at one locality was collected from a clear water stream with substrate of sand, gravel, rocks, and leaf litter with some overhanging riparian vegetation.

The water was nowhere deeper than about 1 metre with the stream approximately 5 metres across at its widest point. PH was measured at 6.0.

There were numerous other fishes in the same biotope including Barbonymus collingwoodi, Crossocheilus cobitis, Garra borneensis, Hampala bimaculata, Mystacoleucus marginatus, Osteochilus waandersii, Paracrossochilus acerus, Rasbora elegans, R. sarawakensis, Systomus banksi, S. kuchingensis, Tor sp., Gastromyzon cf. praestans, Homaloptera nebulosa, H. stephensoni, Pangio cf. shelfordii, Hemibagrus bongan, Leiocasis micropogon, Glyptothorax major, Xenentodon canciloides, Channa lucius, Macrognathus maculatus, and Mastacembelus unicolor.

The differences between S. navjotsodhii and the other tiger barbs will be discussed in an upcoming blog piece here on SF.

Also, please note that use of the genus Systomus for this and other fishes formerly referred to the genus Puntius is in advance of an upcoming genus review and may therefore appear confusing.

For further information please see the full, open access paper: Tan, H-H. 2012. Systomus navjotsodhii, a New Cyprinid Fish from Central Kalimantan, Borneo. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement 25: 285-289

NB: please note that the fishes referred to here as members of the genus Systomus are still listed as Puntius in the SF Knowledge Base pending publication of the review paper mentioned above.