Following Roberts (1997) G. ariza can be diagnosed by the following combination of characters: body with variably intense thin stripes dustributed mostly above the lateral line; larger individuals sometimes with a broad midlateral stripe; 32-35 lateral scales; 7-8/1/5-6 transverse scale rows; 8-9 branched dorsal-fin rays 8-9; 22-24+ 11-12=34(4), 35 (3) vertebrae; live colour pattern variable, overall dull dirty white to greyish, silvery or yellow.

This species is traded under several names including ‘royal danio’, ‘blue-spotted hill trout’, and ‘blue-dotted mirror fish’.

It can be distinguished from congeners by possessing a single row of bluish-green spots along the length of the body, white margins on the dorsal and anal fins, 37-38+1 lateral line scales, and fleshy rudi…

This species is frequently misidentified as Nemachilichthys rueppelli (Sykes, 1839) but that species was described from close to Pune in Maharashtra state, well over 500 km north of Shimoga. Further, in his description of N. rueppeli Sykes states that the body colour is ‘greenish yellow’ and ‘the lateral line marked with short dark bars’.

Narayan Rao described the colour pattern of…

The preciose function of the secondary rostrum remains unknown; some have suggested it may have some hydro-mechanical purpose but it’s perhaps more likely related to reproductiion and/or social interactions. Only males develop prominent rostra…

The hill streams in which this fish can be found are generally shaded by the forest canopy and dense marginal vegetation. Substrates are typically composed of boulders, smaller stones, sand or gravel with submerged tree roots around the margins and quieter areas in which fallen branches and leaf litter collect.

Other fish species occurring in the Tunga…

This species is widely referred to and traded as the congener ‘Puntius‘ narayani (Hora, 1937). The precise identity of the latter is in doubt, however, plus P. setnai possesses a serrated dorsal-fin spine whereas ‘P.‘

It was formerly included in the Puntius conchonius ‘group’ of closely-related species alongside P. ater, P. bandula, P. conchonius, P. cumingii, P. erythromycter,…

X. cancila is often seen referred to as ‘freshwater garfish’, and although it does superficially resemble the true gars of the family Lepisosteidae, it’s actually a member of the Belonidae, or needlefishes, the majority of which are marine or estuarine in existence.

There are currently just two species in the genus although the probable existence of a third member has been noted by Roberts (1989) among oth…

In a survey of fish diversity in the Bhadra River (which joins the Tunga to form the Tungabhadra) it was recorded alongside numerous other species including Puntius chola, Balitora mysorensis, and Mystus armatus. Dry season water paramaters were temperature 69.8°F/21°C, pH 7.0, hardness ~ 2.5°.

The substrate was composed of bedrock, boulders, cobbles, gravel, sand and leaf litter in descending order of abundance with a maximum depth of around…

This species is traded under various vernacular names including ’ember barb’, ‘banded barb’ and ‘black spot barb’, and is perhaps among the more undervalued small cyprinids in the aquarium hobby being peaceful, relatively hardy, colourful, and of interesting behaviour.

It exists in a number of colour for…

The fish appearing in the majority of earlier literature as P. arulius or ‘arulius barb’, and often still traded as such, is the related D. tambraparniei. Though similar the latter can be told apart from D. arulius by possession of filamentous extensions to the dorsal-fin rays in males, longer maxillary barbels measuring > ½ eye diameter, i.e., 2.4 – 4.7 % SL, and some aspects of colour pattern.