Enteromius trimaculatus (Peters, 1852)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Threespot barb (Enteromius trimaculatus) is a species of cyprinid fish in the large genus Enteromius. It has a wide distribution in sub-Saharan Africa from the Congo Basin east to the Indian Ocean coast of Tanzania and south to KwaZulu Natal in South Africa. It occurs in shallow water around river inflows or near swampy areas. It is a habitat generalist and also hardy, but it prefers vegetated areas. It feeds on insects and other small animals. It is often caught for use as bait by anglers fishing for tigerfish. It breeds during the summer rainy season when shoals of fertile adults migrate upstream when the rivers are in spate following rain. A single females may produce as many as 8,000 eggs.
Wikipedia contributors, Threespot barb; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T22:28:19.708452+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Enteromius trimaculatus (Peters, 1852)
- Name authority
- (Peters, 1852)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Cypriniformes
- Family
- Cyprinidae
- Genus
- Enteromius
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderCypriniformes
- familyCyprinidae Rafinesque, 1815
- subfamilyBarbinae Bleeker, 1859
- genusEnteromius Cope, 1867
- speciesEnteromius trimaculatus (Peters, 1852)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Enteromius. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Enteromius afrovernayi (Nichols & Boulton, 1927) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enteromius aloyi (Roman, 1971) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enteromius anema (Boulenger, 1903) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enteromius annectens (Gilchrist & Thompson, 1917) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enteromius anniae (Lévêque, 1983) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enteromius ansorgii (Boulenger, 1904) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enteromius apleurogramma (Boulenger, 1911) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enteromius aspilus (Boulenger, 1907) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enteromius atromaculatus (Nichols & Griscom, 1917) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enteromius bagbwensis (Norman, 1932) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enteromius baudoni (Boulenger, 1918) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Enteromius bifrenatus (Fowler, 1935) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Barbus katangae Boulenger, 1900 Boulenger, 1900 | synonym |
| Barbus decipiens Boulenger, 1907 Boulenger, 1907 | synonym |
| Barbus breijeri Weber, 1897 Weber, 1897 | synonym |
| Barbus kurumani Castelnau, 1861 Castelnau, 1861 | synonym |
| Barbus trimaculatus Peters, 1852 Peters, 1852 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1416216 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:6FD4X. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.