Tinfoil Barb

Common name for a species of carp-like freshwater fish found in Southeast Asia and with the scientific designations Barbonymus schwanenfeldii and Puntius schwanenfeldii. Adults have a body length of up to 35 centimeters, and are silvery with a golden shine and feature a red dorsal fin with a black blotch at the tip, as well as red pectoral, pelvic and anal fins, and a red caudal fin with a white margin and two black sub-marginal stripes. They originated in the Mekhong and Chao Phraya basins of Thailand, and can be found in rivers, streams, canals, and ditches, as far south as in Khao Sok National Park's Chiaw Lan reservoir (fig.), as well as on the Malayan Peninsula, in Sumatra, and on Borneo. Tinfoil Barbs are largely herbivorous, consuming aquatic macrophytes and submerged land plants, as well as filamentous algae, though they occasionally also feed on insects, small fish, worms, and crustaceans. Tinfoil Barbs have a lifespan of up to 10 years. In Thai, the this species is known as pla krahae. 回