Barb (fish species)

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For the genus Barbus see Barbus, for many of the tropical aquarium fish commonly known as barbs, also see Puntius.

Barb is a very common generic term for many species of fish. Not only are 'barbs' found in the genus Barbus but throughout the Cyprinidae.

Genera that contain species that have the common name description of barb include Barbichthys, Barbodes, Barboides, Barbonymus, Barbopsis, Barbus, Caecobarbus, Capoeta, Catla, Catlacarpio, Chela,, Coptostomabarbus, Cyclocheilichthys, Devario, Discherodontus, Esomus, Garra, Hypselobarbus, Labeobarbus, Leptobarbus, Megarasbora, Osteochilus, Poropuntius, Probarbus, Puntioplites, Rasbora and Sawbwa.

The root 'barb' is also very common in cyprinid names in other European languages, probably from exposure to Latin, for example barbi; Finnish, barba; Spanish, barbeau; French and many others.