Ariza Labeo

The 30 centimeter (cm) long reba (Bangana ariza) is one of several native benthopelagic fish species present in the Indus River and its tributaries. Major tributaries of the Indus rise in the Himalayan Mountains and the Hindu Kush; these influent rivers include the Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi and Sutlej. The Indus mainstem rises on the Tibetan Plateau and flows generally westward. The Green Revolution has exacerbated water pollution by considerable additions of nitrate to promote crop growth. Other aggravating factors have included increasing amounts of herbicides and pesticides, as pressures to increase crop production expand. Flow of the perennial Indus is dominated by: (a) meltwaters from the Tibetan icefield, the third largest ice sheet formation in the world; (b) snowfall and snowmelt from higher elevation of the watershed; and (c) episodic monsoonal rains that lead to periodic flooding in the basin. Other large benthopelagic fish inhabit the water column niche immediately above the bottom, feeding on benthos and zooplankton. There are a number of moderate sized native benthopelagic fish taxa that are found in the Indus River system including: the 70 cm scaly osman (Diptychus maculatus), the 30 cm Indus snowtrout (Ptychobarbus conirostris), the 30 cm Kunar snowtrout (Schizothorax labiatus), the 35 cm false osman (Schizopygopsis stoliczkai), the 47 cm Chirruh snowtrout (Schizothorax esocinus), and the 40 cm Sattar snowtrout (Schizopyge curvifrons).

Bangana ariza (Reba Carp)

Bangana ariza, the Reba or ariza labeo, is a cyprinid fish found in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Bangana ariza occurs in clear rivers and tanks, feeding on plankton and detritus. It breeds in flooded shallows in June–September. Its growth fairly rapid; and it can reach lengths of about 30 cm in natural waters. The males are smaller than females. It is grown in aquaculture ponds in India where breeding is induced by hypophysation, a technique of artificially encouraging fish to reproduce by removing the hypophysis or pituitary gland from a fish, preparing it and then injecting the preparation into another mature fish, of either sex, to promote final maturation and spawning. However, the fry of this species are readily available in July–September in rivers such as the Cauvery and Bhavani, especially at dawn and dusk. These are collected to stock ponds and in even seasonal waters due to their rapid growth.

Bangana ariza is found in waters on the Indus plain and adjoining hilly areas in Pakistan; in the Ganges-Brahmaputra basins in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh; the basins of the Mahanadi, Krishna and Cauvery, as well as some smaller basins in southern India; the Karnapouli and adjacent smaller basins in Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh. It has also been reported from Myanmar.

Bangana ariza has thin stripes lying mainly dorsally of the lateral line; larger specimens often have a broad mid-lateral stripe. The colour of this species in life is variable, from dull dirty white or greyish to silvery or yellow, and the narrow stripes van vary in their distinctiveness.