BREEDING COLOURATION OF BARBUS (PUNTIUS)
                              STIGMA (CUV. & VAL.)*

                                              BY

                 H. K. MOOKERJEE, D. Sc. (LOND), D.I.C., F.N.I.,
                              S. R. MAZUMDAR, M.Sc.

                                            AND

                                B. DAS GUPTA, M.Sc.

                  Department of Zoology, Calcutta University

                   (Received for publication on May 3, 1941)

                                  (With Plate XIX)

BARBUS (PUNTIUS) STIGMA is a small Carp Minnow commonly found
in ponds, pools and ditches of Bengal; it usually grows to a size of 2 to
3 inches, but according to Day [1878],' It attains at least 5 inches in length.'
Day mentioned that' As food it is bitter'. We have, however, found that the
flesh of the fish is not bitter, but as the gall-bladder is got rid of by external
pressure at the time of preparation of the fish, sometimes a certain amount of
bile remains inside and this makes the fish bitter. During the dry season it
is caught by the poorer people in large quantities by inexpensive methods of
fishing [Hora, 1933]. The fish can easily be reared in small aquaria, but
owing to its dull colouration it has not found favour with aquarists. In the
course of our investigations on the life-histories of the freshwater fishes of
Bengal, we noticed that during the breeding season, which lasts from April to
July, both sexes develop a characteristic band of carmine red colour along the
lateral line. In the male it is well defined and of a deeper colour and extends
to the end of the caudal fin, while in the female it is more or less diffuse and
only extends up to the end of the caudal pedunc e. (Plate XIX). U ually the
female develops this colouration only when fully ripe or immediate y before
it is ready to lay eggs, while in the male the colour band is developed with
the ripening of germ cells. The body of a mature female is proportionately
deeper than that of the male. Day (loc. cit.) also noted that the species
is marked ' with a scarlet lateral band at some seasons ', but evidently he
did not realise its significance.

In several species of Carp Minnows the males assume brilliant colour
during the breeding season [Innes, 1935] and during these periods sexes can

*Chaudhuri [1916] has shown that Barbus (Puntius) stigma (Cuv . & Val.) is a
synonym of Barbus (Puntius) sophore Hamilton. In view of the fact that Hamilton
[1822] found this fish ' very common in ponds ' of Bengal, we consider that Chaudhuri's
views are probably correct, but as Day's Fishes of India and the volumes in his Fauna
of British India series are still our standard works on Indian fishes we have retained
the specific name stigma in Day's sense to facilitate reference.

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