Rasboroides Explained

Rasboroides is a genus of small cyprinid fishes endemic to Sri Lanka. They are found in small, slow-flowing and shaded streams in the southwestern part of the island. They are essentially restricted to lowlands, although one introduced population occurs at an altitude of .^[1] They are calm, social and attractively colored fish that sometimes are kept in aquariums.^[1]

Species

Historically, there was only a single recognized species in this genus, R. vaterifloris, but in a review in 2013 four species were recognized, and this is followed by FishBase. A comprehensive review in 2018 disputed this and only recognized two species, R. pallidus and R. vaterifloris (the other two considered junior synonyms).^[1]

• Rasboroides nigromarginatus (Meinken, 1957)
• Rasboroides pallidus Deraniyagala, 1958
• Rasboroides rohani Batuwita, M. de Silva & Edirisinghe, 2013^[2]
• Rasboroides vaterifloris (Deraniyagala, 1930) (Pearly rasbora)

Notes and References

1. Sudasinghe, H., J. Herath, R. Pethiyagoda and M. Meegaskumbura. (2018). Undocumented Translocations Spawn Taxonomic Inflation in Sri Lankan Fire Rasboras (Actinopterygii, Cyprinidae). PeerJ. 6:e6084.
2. Batuwita, S., Silva, M.d. & Edirisinghe, U. (2013): A review of the danionine genera Rasboroides and Horadandia (Pisces: Cyprinidae), with description of a new species from Sri Lanka. Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 24 (2): 121-140.