Tor putitora ( Hamilton, 1822 )

Çiçek, Erdoğan, Fricke, Ronald, Eagderi, Soheil, Sungur, Sevil, Coad, Brian W & Hamdard, Mohammad Hamid, 2023, Fishes of Afghanistan; a revised and updated annotated checklist, Zootaxa 5305 (1), pp. 1-69 : 21

Tor putitora ( Hamilton, 1822)

[N]—Putitor mahseer

Taxonomy. Original description: Cyprinus putitora Hamilton, 1822: 303 , 388 [Brahmaputra River, at Gualpara (Goalpara), Assam, India; no types known].— Afghanistan synonyms: Barbus progeneius ( McClelland, 1839) ; Tor progeneius ( McClelland, 1839) ; Labeobarbus macrolepis ( Heckel, 1838) ; Tor macrolepis ( Heckel, 1838) ; Barbus macrocephalus McClelland, 1839 .—Revisions: Mirza & Javed (1986: 76); Laskar et al. (2018: [8]).— Illustration: Mirza & Javed (1986: figs. 3–4).

Status in Afghanistan. First record from Afghanistan by Mirza (1973); confirmed by Coad (1981: 13; 2014: 233 as Tor macrolepis ( Heckel 1838) ; 2015: 228 as Tor macrolepis ( Heckel 1838)) .—Afghanistan materials: None.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Afghanistan: Kabul River.—General distribution: Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.—Habitat: This species inhabits montane and submontane regions along streams and rivers. It is distributed throughout the Himalayan region. It naturally inhabits high-energy river systems characterized by rapids and pools with a rocky substrate and has adapted to utilize lacustrine habitats created through the impoundment of dams. Introduced populations also persist in some lakes where ephemeral stream inputs provide functional habitats for reproduction. Freshwater.

Economic importance. Commercially important.

Conservation. Conservation status in Afghanistan: Unknown.—IUCN: EN ( Jha et al. 2018).—Threats: HAB, CON, CLI, FIT, ABS, TOU, EUT.—Moderate sensitivity to human activities.—Not considered as a keystone species.—Decline status: Decreasing.—Moderate priority for conservation action.