Fish Fauna of Asan River and Its Tributaries, Western Doon Valley, Dehradun (Uttarakhand), with Conservation Status of Species and Threats - Aquatic Ecosystem: Biodiversity, Ecology and Conservation - page 246

Body streamlined; lips thick, continuous at
angles of the mouth, often hypertrophied; barbels
two pairs; head longer than depth of the body in
adult. Body greenish above, light pinkish yellow
on sides with a broad, light greenish blue lateral
band and silvery below.

Remarks
Commercial fi shery, game/sport and of food
value. Presently, specimens over 30 cm and 5 kg
in weight are rarely caught due to overexploita-
tion of resources.

28. Tor tor (Hamilton, 1822)
Cyprinus ( Cyprinus ) tor Hamilton, 1822. Fish.
Ganges : 305-306, 388 (type locality:
Mahananda river).
Tor tor Husain, 2003 . Faun. Asan Wetland,
Wetland Ecosystem Series 5 : 23-26 (Asan
River below its barrage).

Maximum Length
2.75 m, commonly 1.83 m; weight 54 kg.

Distribution

Uttarakhand
Garhwal Division: Chamoli, Dehradun, Haridwar,
Pauri, Tehri and Uttarkashi; Kumaon Division:
Almora, Nainital and Pithoragarh districts.
Corbett Tiger Reserve and Rajaji National Park.

English Names
Deep-Bodied Mahseer, Large-Scaled Barb, Red-
Finned Mahseer, Tor Barb, Tor Mahseer.

India
All along the Himalayas including Assam, Bihar,
Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram,
Nagaland, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh (Ramganga)
and West Bengal (Darjeeling).

Local Names
Ladhar, Lal-machhli, Lal Mahseer, Machiyari,
Mahseer, Mahasher, Makhni, Mashir.

Localities Surveyed
Asan River below its barrage at Dhalipur,
Herbertpur, Bairagiwala near Herbertpur and
Bhurpur near Jhajra.

Elsewhere
Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, Iran, Myanmar,
Nepal, Pakistan and Thailand. Introduced in
Bangladesh.

Diagnostic Characters
D. 3-4/8-9, P. 1/14-17, V. 1/8, A. 3/5, C.
19(10/9). L.l. 24-26.
Body stoutly built, somewhat compressed;
head bluntly point, its length shorter than the
depth of the body; mouth somewhat inferior,
short; lips fl eshy, upper sometimes greatly
enlarged and produced, median lobe of lower lip
invariably produced backwards into a long fl eshy
and pointed appendage; barbels two pairs, short
rostral and maxillary; eyes large, mostly in ante-
rior half of the head; dorsal fi n origin variable, its
spine osseous, strong, groove behind, much
shorter than body depth, pelvics with scaly
appendage at its axil, caudal fi n forked with its
upper lobe slightly longer; scales large, dorsal
and anal fi ns in a sheath of scales, lateral line
complete. Colour silvery with pinkish tinge, dor-
sal and caudal fi ns greyish with a tinge of pink,
other fi ns reddish or orange; fry with a black spot
at the caudal base.

Habitat and Ecology
Inhabits rapid streams with rocky bed, rivers, river-
ine pools and lakes in montane and submontane
regions in pH ranges 7.4-7.9 and 13-30 °C tempera-
ture. It is a column feeder, omnivorous in nature,
feeding on fi sh, zooplankton, dipteran larvae and
plant matter; juveniles subsist on plankton while fi n-
gerlings feed mainly on periphytic algae and dia-
toms. Ascend streams to breed over gravel and stones
and returns to perennial ponds after breeding.

Conservation Status
IUCN Red List, endangered.

Threats
Threatened due to overharvesting and feeding
and breeding habitat loss throughout its range
due to many anthropogenic stresses.