Pethia conchonius ( Hamilton, 1822 )

Çiçek, Erdoğan, Fricke, Ronald, Eagderi, Soheil, Sungur, Sevil, Coad, Brian W & Hamdard, Mohammad Hamid, 2023, Fishes of Afghanistan; a revised and updated annotated checklist, Zootaxa 5305 (1), pp. 1-69 : 21

Pethia conchonius ( Hamilton, 1822)

[N]—Rosy barb

Taxonomy. Original description: Cyprinus conchonius Hamilton, 1822: 317 , 389 (ponds near Brahmaputra River, at Gualpara [Goalpara], Assam, India; no types known).— Afghanistan synonyms: Puntius conchonius ( Hamilton, 1822) ; Puntius conchonius khagariansis Srivastava & Datta Munshi, 1988 ; Systomus pyropterus McClelland, 1839 .—Revisions: Pethiyagoda et al. (2012: 81).—Illustration: Kullander et al. (1999: 109, fig. 5) as Puntius conchonius .

Status in Afghanistan. First record from Afghanistan by Coad (1981: 11); confirmed by Coad (2014: 192 as Puntius conchonius ( Hamilton, 1822) ; 2015: 228 as Puntius conchonius ).—Afghanistan materials: None.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Afghanistan: Kabul River.—General distribution: South Asia: Himalaya Foothills, Ganga-Brahmaputra basin ( Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh); introduced in Puerto Rico ( USA).—Habitat: Generally, it inhabits lakes and streams. It is one of the hardiest of the barbs, a hardy and very popular Asian minnow. It is most impressively colored during the mating period, when the normally silvery male takes on a rich claret flush and the slightly larger female becomes more luminous. Freshwater.

Economic importance. Valuable for the aquarium trade.

Conservation. Conservation status in Afghanistan: Unknown.—IUCN: LC ( Dahanukar 2015).—Threats: None.— Low sensitivity to human activities.—Keystone species.—Decline status: Unknown.—Low priority for conservation action.