Dawkinsia

Black spot cash, Dawkinsia filamentosa ( above, including Dawkinsia assimilis )

Dawkinsia is a South Asian genus of the carp family (Cyprinidae ). All species of the genus are endemic only in South India or Sri Lanka. The genus, which was erected in the summer of 2012, including nine species previously as Puntius filamentosus species group together, were part of the collective genus Puntius. The genus was named in honor of the evolutionary biologist and author of scientific and popular scientific literature, Richard Dawkins, in order to appreciate its benefits to spread the theory of evolution in public.

Features

Dawkinsia species reach as adult fish normally a standard length of between 8 and 12 cm. Only the type species, the black- spot goatfish ( Dawkinsia filamentosa ) is larger with a maximum length of 18 cm. The body of the Dawkinsia species is laterally flattened and elongated. Diagnostic features of the genus are the absence of rostral barbels, the presence or absence of maxillary barbels, the smooth last unbranched fin ray of the dorsal fin, 4 unbranched and 8 branched dorsal fin rays, 3 unbranched and 5 branched anal-fin rays, a complete lateral line with 18 to 22 sheds, simple, pointed gill rakers ( not branched or lamellar flattened ), free Uroneuralia, 4-5 vertebrae with spinous processes ( Supraneuralien ), 15 vertebrae in the abdomen and 14 to 17 in the tail spine and slim infra orbital bones # 3 ( bones around the eyes ), which does not overlap the Vorkiemendeckel.

Junvenile Dawkinsia specimens, below a length of 5 cm, show a color pattern of three dark bands on the body sides, which are maintained in adult animals, or up to a black, horizontally elongated patch may disappear on the caudal peduncle.

Species

  • Three ribbon bar ( Dawkinsia arulia ) ( Jerdon, 1849)
  • Dawkinsia assimilis ( Jerdon, 1849)
  • Dawkinsia exclamatio ( Pethiyagoda & Kottelat, 2005)
  • Black spot barbel ( Dawkinsia filamentosa ) ( Valenciennes, 1844) ( type species )
  • Dawkinsia rohani ( Rema Devi, Indra & Knight, 2010)
  • Dawkinsia rubrotinctus ( Jerdon, 1849)
  • Dawkinsia Sinhala ( Duncker, 1912)
  • Dawkinsia srilankensis ( Senanayake, 1985)
  • Dawkinsia tambraparniei ( Silas, 1954)
Taxonomic rank#All ranks Ostariophysi Barbel (anatomy) FishBase
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