The studies on the osteology of caudal skeleton and the ray counts showed
that the species of Puntius studied fall into two groups. one containing 11
species and the other with one species. The major group with I I species has a
primitive caudal skeleton with 6 free hypurals and 16 or more branched rays,
the minor group with one species has an advanced caudal skeleton with 5 free
hypurals and 15 branched rays.
