Taxonomy of Finfish

2.1.5.6 Barbels

Barbels are flexible tactile filaments under the chin surrounding the mouth, on the snout, on the sides, on the ventral side and in between the nostrils. In catfishes they play a very important role in identifying the food objects, locating the extent of the width in crevices and also as a defense organ. Mystus bleekeri, the fiddler fish of Mysore, erects its barbells in a threatening manner when disturbed. In the Ariid genus Osteogeniosus the only pair of maxillary barbels are thick and semi-osseous (Fig. 17 B). Most siluroids carry four pairs of barbels (Fig. 17 A), but it is not constant; it may be one, two or three. The Cyprinids also have barbels but not as long as in the catfishes. In Nemacheilus the barbells may be well developed and they are used as a sensory organ only (Fig. 17 C).

Fig. Barbels. A. Soft and muscular Clarias batrachus. B. Stiff and osseous Osteogeniosus militaris. C. Simple hollow short tubes. Noemacheilus labeosus.