Garra


Garra is a genus of 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 Anatolia and the Middle East belongs in this genus. The majority of the more than 140 species of garras are native to Asia, but about one-fifth of the species are from Africa.
The genus was established by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton in 1822 as a subgenus of Cyprinus ; 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.

Description and ecology

These species 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 from 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 usually unbranched, the supraethmoid is wider than long when seen from above, and the cleithrum is narrow and elongated to the front.
From other Garrini, the genus Garra can be distinguished as follows: their pharyngeal teeth are arranged in three rows, 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.
Garras are not or barely noticeably sexually dimorphic and generally cryptically coloured benthic freshwater fish. Five species in the genus are cave-adapted, lacking pigmentation and/or eyes. Garras 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.
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 into the rivers to spawn.

Species

These are the currently recognized species in this genus:

  • Garra abhoyai Hora, 1921
  • Garra aethiopica
  • Garra allostoma T. R. Roberts, 1990
  • Garra alticaputus Arunachalam, Nandagopal & Mayden, 2013
  • Garra amirhosseini Esmaeili, Sayyadzadeh, Coad & Eagderi, 2016
  • Garra annandalei Hora, 1921
  • Garra apogon
  • Garra arunachalami Johnson & Soranam, 2001
  • Garra arunachalensis Nebeshwar & Vishwanath, 2013
  • Garra arupi Nebeshwar, Vishwanath & D. N. Das, 2009
  • Garra barreimiae Fowler & Steinitz, 1956
  • Garra bibarbatus
  • Garra bicornuta Narayan Rao, 1920
  • Garra bimaculacauda Thoni, Gurung & Mayden, 2016
  • Garra birostris Nebeshwar & Vishwanath, 2013
  • Garra bisangulris Chen, Wu, & Xiao, 2010
  • Garra bispinosa E. Zhang, 2005
  • Garra blanfordii
  • Garra borneensis
  • Garra bourreti
  • Garra buettikeri Krupp, 1983
  • Garra cambodgiensis
  • Garra ceylonensis Bleeker, 1863
  • Garra chakpiensis Nebeshwar & Vishwanath, 2015
  • Garra chebera Habteselassie, Mikschi, Ahnelt & Waidbacher, 2010
  • Garra compressus Kosygin & Vishwanath, 1998
  • Garra congoensis Poll, 1959
  • Garra cornigera Shangningam & Vishwanath, 2015
  • Garra cryptonema
  • Garra culiciphaga
  • Garra cyclostomata Đ. Y. Mai, 1978
  • Garra cyrano Kottelat, 2000
  • Garra dampaensis Lalronunga, Lalnuntluanga & Lalramliana, 2013
  • Garra dembecha Getahun & Stiassny, 2007
  • Garra dembeensis
  • Garra dulongensis
  • Garra dunsirei Banister, 1987
  • Garra duobarbis Getahun & Stiassny, 2007
  • Garra elegans
  • Garra elongata Vishwanath & Kosygin, 2000
  • Garra emarginata Kurup & Radhakrishnan, 2011
  • Garra ethelwynnae Menon, 1958
  • Garra fasciacauda Fowler, 1937
  • Garra festai
  • Garra fisheri
  • Garra flavatra S. O. Kullander & F. Fang, 2004
  • Garra fluviatilis Kangrang, Thoni, Mayden & Beamish, 2016
  • Garra fuliginosa Fowler, 1934
  • Garra geba Getahun & Stiassny, 2007
  • Garra ghorensis Krupp, 1982
  • Garra gotyla
  • Garra gracilis
  • Garra gravelyi
  • Garra hainanensis Y. R. Chen & C. Y. Zheng, 1983
  • Garra hindii
  • Garra hughi Silas, 1955
  • Garra ignestii
  • Garra imbarbatus
  • Garra imberba Garman, 1912
  • Garra imberbis
  • Garra incisorbis L. P. Zheng, J. X. Yang & X. Y. Chen, 2016
  • Garra jerdoni F. Day, 1867
  • Garra jordanica Hamidan, Geiger & Freyhof, 2014
  • Garra joshuai Silas, 1954
  • Garra kalakadensis Rema Devi, 1993
  • Garra kalpangi Nebeshwar, Bagra & D. N. Das, 2012
  • Garra kemali
  • Garra kempi Hora, 1921
  • Garra khawbungi Arunachalam, Nandagopal & Mayden, 2014
  • Garra kimini Arunachalam, Nandagopal & Mayden, 2013
  • Garra lamta
  • Garra lancrenonensis Blache & Miton, 1960
  • Garra lautior Banister, 1987
  • Garra lissorhynchus
  • Garra litanensis Vishwanath, 1993
  • Garra longchuanensis Q. Yu, X. Z. Wang, H. Xiong & S. P. He, 2016
  • Garra longipinnis Banister & M. A. Clarke, 1977
  • Garra lorestanensis Mousavi-Sabet & Eagderi, 2016
  • Garra magnidiscus Tamang, 2013
  • Garra makiensis
  • Garra mamshuqa Krupp, 1983
  • Garra manipurensis Vishwanath & Sarojnalini, 1988
  • Garra mcclellandi
  • Garra menderesensis
  • Garra menoni Rema Devi & T. J. Indra, 1984
  • Garra micropulvinus W. Zhou, X. F. Pan & Kottelat, 2005
  • Garra mini Rahman, Mollah, Norén & Kullander, 2016
  • Garra minimus Arunachalam, Nandagopal & Mayden, 2013
  • Garra mirofrontis X. L. Chu & G. H. Cui, 1987
  • Garra mlapparaensis Kurup & Radhakrishnan, 2011
  • Garra mondica Sayyadzadeh, Esmaeili & Freyhof, 2015
  • Garra mullya
  • Garra naganensis Hora, 1921
  • Garra nambulica Vishwanath & H. Joyshree, 2005
  • Garra namyaensis Shangningam & Vishwanath, 2012
  • Garra nana
  • Garra nasuta
  • Garra nethravathiensis Arunachalam & Nandagopal, 2014
  • Garra nigricauda Arunachalam, Nandagopal & Mayden, 2013
  • Garra nigricollis S. O. Kullander & F. Fang, 2004
  • Garra nkhruletisis Nebeshwar & Vishwanath, 2015
  • Garra notata
  • Garra nujiangensis Z. M. Chen, S. Zhao & J. X. Yang, 2009
  • Garra orientalis Nichols, 1925
  • Garra ornata
  • Garra palaniensis Rema Devi & Menon, 1994
  • Garra palaruvica Arunachalam, Raja, Nandagopal & Mayden, 2013
  • Garra paralissorhynchus Vishwanath & K. Shanta Devi, 2005
  • Garra parastenorhynchus Thoni, Gurung & Mayden, 2016
  • Garra periyarensis K. C. Gopi, 2001
  • Garra persica L. S. Berg, 1914
  • Garra phillipsi Deraniyagala, 1933
  • Garra platycephala Narayan Rao, 1920
  • 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 quadratirostris Nebeshwar & Vishwanath, 2013
  • Garra quadrimaculata
  • Garra rakhinica S. O. Kullander & F. Fang, 2004
  • Garra regressus Getahun & Stiassny, 2007
  • Garra robertsi Thoni & Mayden, 2015
  • Garra rossica
  • Garra rotundinasus E. Zhang, 2006
  • Garra rufa
  • Garra rupecula
  • Garra sahilia Krupp, 1983
  • Garra salweenica Hora & Mukerji, 1934
  • Garra sindhi Lyon, Geiger & Freyhof, 2016
  • Garra smarti Krupp & Budd, 2009
  • Garra spilota S. O. Kullander & F. Fang, 2004
  • Garra stenorhynchus Jerdon, 1849
  • Garra surendranathanii C. P. Shaji, L. K. Arun & P. S. Easa, 1996
  • Garra tamangi Gurumayum & Kosygin, 2016
  • Garra tana Getahun & Stiassny, 2007
  • Garra tashanensis Mousavi-Sabet, Vatandoust, Fatemi & Eagderi, 2016
  • Garra tengchongensis E. Zhang & Y. Y. Chen, 2002
  • Garra theunensis Kottelat, 1998
  • Garra tibanica Trewavas, 1941
  • Garra trilobata Shangningam & Vishwanath, 2015
  • Garra tyao Arunachalam, Nandagopal & Mayden, 2014
  • Garra typhlops
  • Garra variabilis
  • Garra vittatula S. O. Kullander & F. Fang, 2004
  • Garra waensis Lothongkham, Arbsuwan & Musikasinthorn, 2014
  • Garra wanae
  • Garra waterloti
  • Garra yiliangensis H. W. Wu & Q. Z. Chen, 1977