Tor mahseer | |
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Original illustration of Tor tor by Haludar 1822 | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Cypriniformes |
Family: | Cyprinidae |
Genus: | Tor |
Species: | T. tor
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Binomial name | |
Tor tor (Hamilton, 1822)
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Synonyms[2] | |
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Tor tor, commonly known as the tor mahseer or tor barb, is a species of cyprinid fish found in fast-flowing rivers and streams with rocky bottoms in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Pakistan. It is a commercially important food and game fish.
In the Himalayan rivers, the population is rapidly declining through its native range, including some evidence of catastrophic collapse, due to pollution,[3] overfishing, the effects of dam building, climate change and introductions of other mahseer species. Until the 1980s, Tor tor was the most populous of the Himalayan mahseers in those rivers where robust species diversity monitoring had taken place.[4][5]
There are also declining populations in rivers of Central India, including north-flowing tributaries of the Ganges/Yamuna basin, the Narmada basin [6][7] and as far south as the Savitri River [8] in Maharashtra. Given the huge differences in climatic and riverine conditions, careful work on species identity is needed to establish if these mahseer are also Tor tor, or an undescribed species.
It is a large fish, reaching 36 cm (14 in) at maturity, but lengths of 150 cm (4.9 ft) have been recorded,[1][2] but the maximum length is 200 cm.[9] The fish is well armoured by their record large scales, each reaching up to 10 cm (3.9 in) in length.[10]
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