Garra

For other uses, see Garra (disambiguation).

Garra
Doctor Fish (Garra rufa) at work
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Superclass:	Osteichthyes
Class:	Actinopterygii
Subclass:	Neopterygii
Infraclass:	Teleostei
Superorder:	Ostariophysi
Order:	Cypriniformes
Superfamily:	Cyprinioidea
Family:	Cyprinidae
Subfamily:	Labeoninae (disputed)
Tribe:	Garrini (but see text)
Genus:	Garra F. Hamilton, 1822
Type species
Garra rufa Heckel, 1843
Diversity
About 100 species
Synonyms
Ageneiogarra Garman, 1912 Brachygramma Day, 1865 Discognathichthys Bleeker, 1860 Discognathus Heckel, 1843 Lissorhynchus Bleeker, 1860 Mayoa Day, 1870 Placocheilus Wu in Wu, Lin, Chen, Chen & He, 1977 Platycara McClelland, 1838

Garra, the garras, are a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae. These fish are one example of the "log suckers", sucker-mouthed barbs and other cyprinids commonly kept in aquaria to keep down algae. The doctor fish of Kangal (Turkey) also belongs into this genus.

The genus was established by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton in 1822 as a subgenus of Cyprinus (which at that time was a "wastebin genus" for carp-like cyprinids); he did not designate a type species. But as no other garras except the newly-discovered G. lamta were known to science in 1822, this was designated as the type species by Pieter Bleeker in 1863. The garras and their closest relatives are sometimes placed in a subfamily Garrinae, but this seems hardly warranted. More often, this group is included in the Labeoninae, or together with these in the Cyprininae. In the former case, the garras are members of the labeonine tribe Garrini, in the latter they are in the subtribe Garraina of tribe Labeonini. The genus Discogobio is a close relative.^[1]

Description and ecology

Garras are slim cyprinids with a flat belly and a sucking mouth; their shape indicates that they are at least in tendency rheophilic. They are distinguished other cyprinids by a combination of features: As in their closest relatives, their lower lip is expanded at its posterior rim to form a round or oval sucking pad, the vomero-palatine organ is much reduced or completely lost, the pectoral fins have at least the first two rays enlarged and udually unbranched, the supraethmoid is wider than long when seen from above, and the cleithrum is narrow and elongated to the front.^[1]

From other Garrini (or Garraina), the genus Garra can be distinguished as follows: their pharyngeal teeth are arranged in three rows (like 2,4,5–5,4,2), the dorsal fin has 10-11 rays and starts slightly anterior to the pelvic fins, while the anal fin starts well behind the pelvic fins and has 8-9 rays. As far as is known, the diploid karyotype of garras is 2n = 50.^[1]

Garras are not or barely noticeably sexually dimorphic and generally cryptically coloured benthic freshwater fish. They are omnivorous, eating alga, plankton and small invertebrates that they suck off substrate like rocks or logs. The food is scraped off with the sharp keratinized borders of the jaws, and ingested via suction, created by contracting and relaxing the buccopharynx. As typical for Cypriniformes, the garras lack a stomach entirely, their oesophagus leading directly to the sphincter of the intestine. Different Garra species eat animal and vegetable matter in different proportions, which can – as typical for vertebrates – usually be recognized by the length of their intestine compared to related species: more herbivorous species have a longer intestine. Indeed, intestinal length in this genus is remarkably constant within species and varies a lot between species, meaning that it is useful to distinguish species and that dietary shifts have played a significant role in the evolution of garras.^[1]

When the females are ready to spawn, they are markedly plum and swollen; the ripe roe may fill almost four-fifths of their body cavity. The testicles of reproductive males are large too. The average Garra egg is 1.77 mm in diameter, and a clutch contains several hundred eggs – up to a thousand or so in large females. The breeding behaviour is generally not well known and breeding is not often achieved in the aquarium; presumably, like many of their relatives they migrate upstream or (if they otherwise inhabit lakes) into the rivers to spawn.^[1]

Species

About 100 species of Garra were accepted in 2011. Some 2–3 new species are being described every year on average.

The Cambodian Logsucker (Garra cambodgiensis) resembles the Siamese Algae Eater (Crossocheilus siamensis)

Garra fuliginosa

Garra lamta habitus drawing

Garra mullya habitus drawing

Garra gotyla gotyla

Garra aethiopica (Pellegrin, 1927) Garra allostoma T. R. Roberts, 1990 Garra annandalei Hora, 1921 (Annandale Garra) Garra apogon (Norman, 1925) Garra arupi Nebeshwar, Vishwanath & Das, 2009 Garra barreimiae Fowler & Steinitz, 1956 Garra barreimiae barreimiae Fowler & Steinitz, 1956 Garra barreimiae shawkahensis Banister & M. A. Clarke, 1977 Garra bibarbatus (V. H. Nguyen, 2001) Garra bicornuta Narayan Rao, 1920 (Tunga Garra) Garra bisangularis Z. M. Chen, X. Y. Wu & H. Xiao, 2010 Garra bispinosa E. Zhang, 2005 Garra blanfordii (Boulenger, 1901) Garra borneensis (Vaillant, 1902) Garra bourreti (Pellegrin, 1928) Garra buettikeri Krupp, 1983 Garra cambodgiensis (Tirant, 1883) (Cambodian Logsucker, Stonelapping Minnow, False Siamese Algae Eater) Garra caudofasciatus (Pellegrin & Chevey, 1936) Garra ceylonensis Bleeker, 1863 (Ceylon Logsucker, Stone Sucker) Garra chebera Habteselassie, Mikschi, Ahnelt & Waidbacher, 2010 Garra compressus Kosygin & Vishwanath, 1998 Garra congoensis Poll, 1959 (Congo Logsucker) Garra cryptonemus (G. H. Cui & Z. Y. Li, 1984) Garra cyclostomata Đ. Y. Mai, 1978 Garra cyrano Kottelat, 2000 Garra dembecha Getahun & Stiassny, 2007 Garra dembeensis (Rüppell, 1835) (Cameroon Logsucker, Dembea Stonelapper) Garra dulongensis (Z. M. Chen, X. F. Pan, D. P. Kong & J. X. Yang, 2006) Garra dunsirei Banister, 1987 Garra duobarbis Getahun & Stiassny, 2007 Garra elongata Vishwanath & Kosygin, 2000 Garra emarginata Kurup & Radhakrishnan, 2011[2] Garra ethelwynnae Menon, 1958 Garra fasciacauda Fowler, 1937 Garra findolabium F. L. Li, W. Zhou & Q. Fu, 2008 Garra fisheri (Fowler, 1937) Garra flavatra S. O. Kullander & F. Fang, 2004 Garra fuliginosa Fowler, 1934 Garra geba Getahun & Stiassny, 2007 Garra ghorensis Krupp, 1982 (Jordanian Logsucker) Garra gotyla (J. E. Gray, 1830) Garra gotyla gotyla (J. E. Gray, 1830) (Sucker Head) Garra gotyla stenorhynchus Jerdon, 1849 (Nilgiris Garra) Garra gracilis (Pellegrin & Chevey, 1936) Garra gravelyi (Annandale, 1919) Garra hainanensis Y. R. Chen & C. Y. Zheng, 1983 Garra hindii (Boulenger, 1905) Garra hughi Silas, 1955 (Cardamon Garra) Garra ignestii (Gianferrari, 1925) Garra imbarbatus (V. H. Nguyen, 2001) Garra imberba Garman, 1912 Garra imberbis (Vinciguerra, 1890) Garra kalakadensis Rema Devi, 1993 Garra kempi Hora, 1921 (Kemp Garra)

Garra laichowensis V. H. Nguyen & L. H. Doan, 1969 Garra lamta (F. Hamilton, 1822) Garra lancrenonensis Blache & Miton, 1960 Garra lautior Banister, 1987 Garra lissorhynchus (McClelland, 1842) (Khasi Garra) Garra litanensis Vishwanath, 1993 Garra longipinnis Banister & M. A. Clarke, 1977 Garra makiensis (Boulenger, 1904) Garra mamshuqa Krupp, 1983 Garra manipurensis Vishwanath & Sarojnalini, 1988 Garra mcclellandi (Jerdon, 1849) (Cauvery Garra) Garra menoni Rema Devi & Indra, 1984 Garra micropulvinus W. Zhou, X. F. Pan & Kottelat, 2005 Garra mirofrontis X. L. Chu & G. H. Cui, 1987 Garra mlapparaensis Kurup & Radhakrishnan, 2011[3] Garra mullya (Sykes, 1839) (Mullya Garra) Garra naganensis Hora, 1921 (Naga Garra) Garra nambulica Vishwanath & Joyshree, 2005 Garra nasuta (McClelland, 1838) (Nose Logsucker) Garra nigricollis S. O. Kullander & F. Fang, 2004 Garra notata (Blyth, 1860) (Tenasserim Garra) Garra nujiangensis Z. M. Chen, S. Zhao & J. X. Yang, 2009 Garra orientalis Nichols, 1925 Garra ornata (Nichols & Griscom, 1917) Garra paralissorhynchus Vishwanath & Shanta Devi, 2005 Garra periyarensis Gopi, 2001 Garra persica Berg, 1914 Garra phillipsi Deraniyagala, 1933 (Philipps' Garra) Garra poecilura S. O. Kullander & F. Fang, 2004 Garra poilanei Petit & T. L. Tchang, 1933 Garra propulvinus S. O. Kullander & F. Fang, 2004 Garra qiaojiensis H. W. Wu & Yao, 1977 Garra quadrimaculata (Rüppell, 1835) Garra rakhinica S. O. Kullander & F. Fang, 2004 Garra regressus Getahun & Stiassny, 2007 Garra robustus (E. Zhang, S. P. He & Yi-Yu Chen, 2002) Garra rossica (Nikolskii, 1900) Garra rotundinasus E. Zhang, 2006 Garra rufa (Heckel, 1843) (Reddish Logsucker, Doctor Fish) Garra rupecula (McClelland, 1839) (Mishmi Garra) Garra sahilia Krupp, 1983 Garra sahilia gharbia Krupp, 1983 Garra sahilia sahilia Krupp, 1983 Garra salweenica Hora & Mukerji, 1934 Garra smarti Krupp & Budd, 2009 Garra spilota S. O. Kullander & F. Fang, 2004 Garra surendranathanii Shaji, Arun & Easa, 1996 Garra tana Getahun & Stiassny, 2007 Garra tengchongensis E. Zhang & Yi-Yu Chen, 2002 Garra theunensis Kottelat, 1998 Garra trewavasai Monod, 1950 Garra variabilis (Heckel, 1843) Garra vittatula S. O. Kullander & F. Fang, 2004 Garra wanae (Regan, 1914) Garra waterloti (Pellegrin, 1935) Garra yiliangensis H. W. Wu & Q. Z. Chen, 1977

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Stiassny & Getahun (2007)
2. ^ Kurup, B.M. & Radhakrishnan, K.V. (2011): Two new cyprinid fishes under the genus Garra (Hamilton) from Kerala, Southern India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 107 (3) [2010]: 220-223.
3. ^ Kurup, B.M. & Radhakrishnan, K.V. (2011): Two new cyprinid fishes under the genus Garra (Hamilton) from Kerala, Southern India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 107 (3) [2010]: 220-223.

References

• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2011). Species of Garra in FishBase. August 2011 version.
• Stiassny, Melanie L.J. & Getahun, Abebe (2007): An overview of labeonin relationships and the phylogenetic placement of the Afro-Asian genus Garra Hamilton, 1922 (Teleostei: Cyprinidae), with the description of five new species of Garra from Ethiopia, and a key to all African species. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 150(1): 41-83. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00281.x PDF fulltext