The barbs include some quite big fish which are sometimes used for food. The biggest of the Barbs is the critically endangered Giant Barb, Catlocarpio siamensis, pictured above. This fish can grow to about 3 metres (10 feet) long and weigh perhaps as much as 300 kilograms (660 pounds). It used to be a significant food fish but is listed by the IUCN as critically endangered and may become extinct soon. 

Barbs are members of the carp or minnow family of bony fish, the Cyprinidea. 

Barb Characteristics

The carp family including the barbs typically have no teeth in the mouth but have rows of ‘teeth’ in their throat to break up their food. The name barb is derived from a word meaning beard and refers to the one or two pairs of small barbels that most members of the group have at the corners of the mouths.

The body is covered with scales, but the head may be scaleless. Typically, the swim bladder is divided into two or three chambers.  The barbs have no adipose fin. The adipose fin that some other types of fish have is a small fin behind the dorsal fin.

As a group, the barbs often have a better tolerance to cold than the tetras.

Barb Origin

Generally barbs come from Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. They are not native to South America, the West Indies, Madagascar, Antarctica or the places round the Arctic.

Wallace’s Line separates the animals of Asia from the ones native to the Australian region. North of this line there are a lot of types of barb, but barbs and others in their family are not native to Australia.

Barbs come from several different genera including Barbus, Puntius, Barbodes and Barbonymus. 

Are Barbs Aggressive Fish?

The Barbs have the reputation for being aggressive fish.  In reality, this is a fairly large group of fish, so each species needs to be looked at separately.