Mahseer

Mahseer is t he common name used for t he genera Tor, Neolissochilus , Naziritor and Parator in
t he family Cyprinidae (carps).[1][2][3] The name is, however, more oft en rest rict ed t o members of
t he genus Tor.[4] The range of t hese fish is from Viet nam in t he east and China in t he nort h,
t hrough Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, and across sout hern Asia
including t he count ries of India, Nepal, Bhut an and Bangladesh wit hin t he Indian Peninsula, plus Sri
Lanka, Pakist an and Afghanist an.[5][6][7] They are commercially import ant game fish, as well as
highly est eemed food fish. Mahseer fet ch high market price, and are pot ent ial candidat e species
for aquacult ure.[8] Several of t he larger species have suffered severe declines, and are now
considered t hreat ened due t o pollut ion, habit at loss, overfishing and increasing concern about t he
impact s of unregulat ed release of art ificially bred st ock of a very limit ed number of species.[9]

Mahseer

Golden mahseer (Tor putitora) in

Babai River, Nepal
Tor tambroides

The t axonomy of t he mahseers is confusing due t o t he

Scientific classification
morphological variat ions t hey exhibit . In developing
st rat egies for aquacult ure and propagat ion assist ed Domain: Eukaryota

rehabilit at ion of mahseer species, resolut ion of t axonomic Kingdom: Animalia

ambiguit ies is needed [10] and adherence t o IUCN st ocking Phylum: Chordata

guidelines [11] must be followed. Class: Actinopterygii

Order: Cypriniformes
Mahseers inhabit bot h rivers and lakes, wit h some species
Family: Cyprinidae
believed t o ascend int o rapid st reams wit h rocky bot t oms
Subfamily: Cyprininae
for breeding. Like ot her t ypes of carps, t hey are
omnivorous, eat ing not only algae, crust aceans, insect s, Genera

frogs, and ot her fish, but also fruit s t hat fall from t rees
Tor Gray, 1834
overhead.
Neolissochilus Rainboth, 1985
The first species from t his group were scient ifically Naziritor Mirza & Javed, 1985
described by Francis Buchanan-Hamilt on in 1822, and first
ment ioned as an angling challenge by t he Oriental Sporting Magazine in 1833, soon becoming a
favorit e quarry of Brit ish anglers living in India.[12]
The golden mahseer Tor putitora was previously believed t o be t he largest member of t he group
and one of t he largest cyprinids; it has been known t o reach 2.75 m (9 ft 0 in) in lengt h and 54 kg
(119 lb) in weight , alt hough specimens of t his size are rarely seen nowadays.[1]
Current ly, t he largest of t he mahseer is Tor remadevii, which is known t o grow t o in excess of
120 lb (54 kg). In 2011, UK angler Ken Loughran landed a fish t hat was t oo heavy for t he 120lb
scales being used. This fish was claimed as a 'World record' at 130lb 10oz,[13] alt hough t he
weighing process used is in doubt . In addit ion t o being caught for sport , mahseer are also part of
commercial fishing and ornament al or aquarium fish.

Etymology

The Hindi and Kumaoni name of mahāsir, mahāser, or mahāsaulā is used for a number of fishes
of t he group. Several sources of t he common name mahseer have been suggest ed: It has been
said t o be derived from Sanskrit , while ot hers claim it is derived from Indo-Persian, mahi- fish and
sher- t iger or "t iger among fish" in Persian. Alt ernat ively, mahā-śalka , meaning large-scaled, is
suggest ed, as t he scales are so large t hat Francis Buchanan ment ions t hat playing cards were
made from t hem at Dacca. Anot her t heory by Henry Sullivan Thomas suggest s mahā-āsya : great
mouth. [14] The name mahasher is commonly used in Urdu, Punjabi, and Kashmiri languages in
Pakist an for t his fish and is said t o be made up of t wo local words: maha = big and sher = lion, as
it ascends in t he hilly rivers and st reams of Himalaya courageously. Sadhale and Nene t ranslat e
t he Sanskrit word mahashila, as used in some t ext s [15] as "st one-like", int erpret ing t hat t o mean a
powerful fish.

Mahseers in Indonesia possess a mult it ude of names owing t o t he mult iet hnic composit ion of t he
count ry; in Java, t hey are referred t o as ikan dewa ; lit erally God-Fish or Fish of t he Gods.[16]
Species

Advertisement for Mahseer fishing

tackle 1897

Sen and Jayaram rest rict t he t erm mahseer t o members of t he genus Tor. However, t he species
of genus Neolissochilus and t he genera Naziritor and Parator are also called mahseers due t o
t heir large-sized scales and ot her similarit ies.[4]
Scient ist s now t ry t o use t he t erms 't rue mahseer' for species wit hin Tor, and 'lesser mahseers'
for species wit hin Neolissochilus , Naziritor and Parator.

Genus Tor

The genus Tor includes:[1]

Tor ater, Robert s, 1999

Tor barakae, Arunkumar & Basudha, 2003, Barakae mahseer

Tor douronensis , Valenciennes, 1842, Semah mahseer or river carp. Synonymous wit h Tor
t ambra

Tor hemispinus , Chen & Chu, 1985

Tor kulkarnii, Menon, 1992, dwarf mahseer, uncert ain as only one specimen found t ill now

Tor khudree, Sykes, 1839, black mahseer, Deccan mahseer, or blue-finned mahseer

Tor laterivittatus , Zhou & Cui, 1996

 Tor macrolepis , Heckel, 1838, uncert ain species

Tor malabaricus , Jerdon, 1849, Malabar mahseer

Tor mosal, Hamilt on, 1822, copper mahseer

Tor mussullah , Sykes, 1839, erroneously [17] called humpback mahseer

Tor polylepis , Zhou & Cui, 1996

Tor progeneius , McClelland, 1839, Jungha mahseer

Tor putitora , Hamilt on, 1822, Himalayan mahseer or golden mahseer

Tor qiaojiensis , Wu, 1977

Tor remadevii, Madhusoodana & Radhakrishnan, 2007, orange-finned mahseer or hump-backed

mahseer

Tor sinensis , Wu, 1977, Chinese mahseer

Tor soro, Valenciennes, 1842 now reassigned t o Neolissochilus soroides

Tor streeteri, Myers, 1927

Tor tambra , Valenciennes, 1842, Javan mahseer, red mahseer (ikan kelah merah)

Tor tambroides , Bleeker, 1854, Malayan mahsheer (erroneous), Sumat ran mahseer

Tor tor, Hamilt on, 1822, red-finned mahseer, short -gilled mahseer, or deep-bodied mahseer

Tor yingjiangensis , Chen & Yang, 2004

Tor yunnanensis , (Wang, Zhuang & Gao, 1982)

Genus Neolissochilus

The genus Neolissochilus includes:[2]

Neolissochilus baoshanensis , (Chen & Yang, 1999)

Neolissochilus benasi, (Pellegrin & Chevey, 1936)

Neolissochilus blythii, (Day, 1870)

Neolissochilus compressus , (Day, 1870)

Neolissochilus dukai, (Day, 1878)

Neolissochilus hendersoni, (Herre, 1940)

Neolissochilus heterostomus , (Chen & Yang, 1999)

Neolissochilus hexagonolepis , (McClelland, 1839), chocolat e mahseer

Neolissochilus hexastichus , (McClelland, 1839), brown mahseer

 Neolissochilus longipinnis , (Weber & de Beaufort , 1916)

Neolissochilus namlenensis , (Nguyen & Doan, 1969)

Neolissochilus nigrovittatus , (Boulenger, 1893)

Neolissochilus paucisquamatus , (Smit h, 1945)

Neolissochilus pnar (Dahanukar, Sundar, Rangad, Proudlove & Raghavan, 2023),[18] cave
mahseer

Neolissochilus soroides , (Duncker, 1904)

Neolissochilus spinulosus , (McClelland, 1845), spinulosus mahseer

Neolissochilus stevensonii, (Day, 1870), St evenson's mahseer

Neolissochilus stracheyi, (Day, 1871), blue mahseer

Neolissochilus subterraneus , Vidt hayanon & Kot t elat , 2003

Neolissochilus sumatranus , (Weber & de Beaufort , 1916)

Neolissochilus theinemanni, (Ahl, 1933)

Neolissochilus tweediei, (Herre & Myers, 1937) junior synonym of Neolissochilus soroides[19]

Neolissochilus vittatus , (Smit h, 1945)

Neolissochilus wynaadensis , (Day, 1873), copper mahseer

Genus Naziritor

The genus Naziritor includes:[3]

Naziritor zhobensis , Mirza, 1967, Balochi mahseer

Naziritor chelynoides , McClelland, 1839, Dark mahseer [20]

Genus Parator

The genus Parator includes:[21] one single species

Parator zonatus , Lin, 1935, Tri-lobed lip barbel

Historical references

Researchers working at sit es from t he Harappan era or Indus Valley civilisat ion, found collect ions
of pot t ery decorat ed wit h fish mot ifs as well as fish bones left in midden pit s. Hora [22] describes
his int erpret at ion of each of t he species depict ed on t he paint ed pot s, which include most of t he
species common t oday in t he Indus basin, including mahseer. During his work on t he remains of
fish bones, renowned et hnoarchaeologist Dr William R. Belcher [23] discovered t hat while fish,
including large species like Indian major carps and various cat fish, comprised a subst ant ial
element of t he diet s of t his 3300–1300 BCE civilisat ion, bones of mahseer were ext remely
rare.[24] It has been suggest ed [25] t hat t his is t he first known inst ance of mahseer being ‘revered’
or singled out from ot her fish species as ‘God's fish’.

During t he lat er period of t he Chalukya dynast y, under t he West ern Chalukya Empire, King
Someshvara III describes fishing in t he rivers and seas around his kingdom, which include many
areas t hat are inhabit ed by t he mahseer species Tor remadevii, Tor malabaricus and Tor
khudree.[15] The king includes "mahashila", a "large river fish(es) of t he scaly t ype." He t hen goes
on t o describe t he best met hods of Angling for t he various fish species t o be encount ered in his
kingdom, including how t o prepare bait s for each. There is a furt her descript ion of how t o prepare
t he fish for cooking and eat ing.

Many of t he most det ailed descript ions of mahseer begin t o appear during t he Brit ish
colonisat ion of India, in part icular, during t he Brit ish Raj of 1857 t o 1947. Many of t hose st at ioned
in India enjoyed angling for mahseer, which t hey compared t o t he t hrill of cat ching a salmon ‘back
home’. Indeed, Henry Sullivan Thomas, aut hor of one of t he first books on angling in t he colonies
[26]
said "t he mahseer shows more sport for it s size t han a salmon." They also produced
guidebooks and penned let t ers t o sport ing journals such as The Field and Fishing Gazette.

H.S. Thomas also gives a descript ion of sout h Indian followers of Hinduism equat ing mahseer wit h
Mat sya, one of t he incarnat ions of t he god Vishnu and responsible for saving Manu from t he
flood. This t ale is common in many of t he classic Hindu t ext s, wit h t he first reference being in t he
Shat apat ha Brahmana, part of t he Vedas body of works dat ed from 1500 t o 400 BCE.

In heraldry (and other official representations)

Kurwai State coat of arms

with a Mahseer as
supporter.

Mahseer was an import ant symbol in t he heraldry of cert ain Muslim-ruled former princely st at es
of t he Subcont inent such as Baoni, Bhopal, Kurwai and Rampur. Dost Mohammad Khan's son Yar
Mohammad received from Nizam-ul-Mulk t he insignia of t he Maha Muratib (t he dignit y of t he
Fish).[27] The insignia became part of t he Bhopal St at e's coat of arms.
The Mahseer fish as an emblem of t he highest honour in royalt y is allegedly from Persian origin
and was adopt ed by t he court s of Oudh and t he Paigah nobles of Hyderabad St at e, being lat er
passed down t o ot her st at es of t he area.[28]

In India, many st at es have adopt ed mahseer as t heir St at e Fish. Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal
Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ut t arakhand all have t he golden mahseer, Nagaland has t he
'Chocolat e mahseer', Neolissochilus hexagonolepis as t heir St at e Fish, Odisha has t he fish known
as 'Mahanadi mahseer', Tor mosal mahanadicus as it s St at e Fish.[29] The sout hern st at e of
Karnat aka is considering changing it s St at e Fish from Carnat ic carp t o t he IUCN Red List ed
Critically Endangered Tor remadevii.[30]

There have been calls for Tor tambra , t he 'Java mahseer' known locally as emperau, t o be
adopt ed as t he nat ional fish of Malaysia.[31]

Conservation issues for mahseer

Translocat ion movement s of mahseer wit hin India have been happening since t he 1850s, at
least .[32] During t his period, t he int egrit y and ident it y of species was poorly underst ood, which
may have caused unint ent ional issues of Hybridisat ion bet ween species or compet it ion from
Invasive species.

Among t he best document ed areas where fish movement s have been used for reasons of
improving angling sport , or at t empt ing t o augment declining st ocks are t he Lakes of Kumaon hills.
The Kumaon lakes in Ut t arakhand, Bhimt al Lake, Nainit al Lake, Naukuchiat al Lake and Sat t al Lake,
were st ocked wit h mahseer in 1858 by Sir H. Ramsey, wit h st ock brought from t he rivers Gaula
and Kali. According t o Walker in his 'Angling in t he Kumaon Lakes', t he Bhimt al st ocking was less
successful, unt il a second bat ch of fish were int roduced in 1878.[33] Dr Raj, Fisheries
Development Officer in Unit ed Provinces, in his 1945 report on t he decline of mahseer st ocks in
t he lakes says: "From all report s t hese isolat ed lakes had hardly any fish in t hem before t he
int roduct ion of mahseer." [34] This is clearly a misunderst anding of t he hist ory of mahseer in t he
lakes, as Walker earlier says:

When I first angled in Nainital Lake, in 1863 and 1864, there were comparatively
few large mahsir in it; there were shoals of the lake fish (Barbus Chilinoides) and
many small trout (Barilius Bola). A morning's catch would include a couple of
small mahsir, eight or nine 'lake-fish' and two or three trout. Gradually the
mahsir have reduced the numbers of the other fish until it is a rare circumstance
to catch a ‘lake-fish’ with the fly, and I have not for many years seen a single
trout, although I heard of one being caught last year by a troller.
 — Walker, W., Angling in the Kumaun Lakes: With a Map of the
Kumaun Lake Country (1888)

The inference must be t hat t he int roduct ions of mahseer int o t he lakes caused t he unexpect ed
decline of several nat ive fish st ocks, eit her due t o compet it ion, or by direct predat ion and t hat
t he earlier fish st ocks were not able.

In Himachal Pradesh, golden mahseer is deplet ing at a fast rat e from t he st at e even t hough it
was cat egorised as an endangered species by t he Nat ional Bureau of Fish Genet ic Resources as
early as 1992.

In common wit h most areas wit hin t he geographic range of mahseers, t he fact ors leading t o t his
sit uat ion are mainly ant hropogenic dist ort ion of rivers due t o t he const ruct ion of river valley
project s, mult ipurpose dams, shrinking habit at , poaching and ot her st ock exploit at ion, and
widespread int roduct ion of invasive species.[35]
Int ent ional st ocking of mahseers in t he t rans-Himalayan region have been t aking place for several
years.[36] It has been report ed t hat t he Teest a River in Sikkim and West Bengal has been st ocked
wit h hundreds of t housands of golden mahseer every year since at least 2014 in a drive t o
promot e angling in t he region.[37] That t he fish st ocks cont inue t o decline [38][39] suggest s t hat
t he policy needs t o be reviewed and more effort s devot ed t o improving habit at as t he first
priorit y.

Revision of all mahseer species

In May 2019, Mahseer Trust and collaborat ors published a major revision paper.[25] This paper
includes t he lat est IUCN Red List ing st at us and validit y of 16 species of t he Tor genus. Following
t his publicat ion, fresh impet us int o underst anding t he ecology of wild populat ions and
est ablishing more secure species ident it ies will allow coherent conservat ion programmes t o be
enact ed, and fish current ly list ed Dat a Deficient t o be accorded wit h relevant t hreat st at us.

Conferences

Over several decades, concerned organisat ions have arranged conferences t o debat e issues
around mahseer conservat ion. Among t he early event s was t he Kuala Lumpur Conference of
2005, and in 2014, WWF-India convened a forum in Delhi.[40] Bot h of t hese event s looked at many
issues specific t o mahseer, and t ypical out put s included measures t o invest igat e great er
underst anding of mahseer ecology.

In 2017, Mahseer Trust convened a different kind of event , by including represent at ives t o
discuss all aspect s of bot h t he fish and t he river habit at in which t hey live. This unique
conference included sessions aired live on social media, wit h a final quest ion and answer session
reaching 6,000 viewers.[41]

December 2018 saw t he First Int ernat ional Conference, in Paro, Bhut an.[42][43] Among t he many
recommendat ions were increased research int o t he ecology of wild mahseer and ensuring
art ificial breeding of mahseer is done under st rict cont rol using IUCN guidelines.

IMC2 was held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in February 2020.[44]

Roundt able workshops on t he final day agreed t o produce out put s, including papers, whit e paper
proposals and out reach media, in t he following areas of concern:

What is a mahseer? Considering t axonomy.

Value of recreat ional angling. Set t ing st andards.

Impact s of invasive species. Ways t o ensure enforcement .

Developing out reach and educat ion. To share messages and programmes.

References

1. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Tor" (ht t p://www.fishbase.org/ident ifica
t ion/SpeciesList .php?genus=Tor) . FishBase. April 2008 version.

2. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Neolissochilus " (ht t p://www.fishbase.o
rg/ident ificat ion/SpeciesList .php?genus=Neolissochilus) . FishBase. April 2008 version.

3. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Naziritor" (ht t p://www.fishbase.org/iden
t ificat ion/SpeciesList .php?genus=Nazirit or) . FishBase. April 2008 version.

4. Sen TK, Jayaram KC, 1982. The Mahseer Fish of India – a Review. Rec. Zoological Survey of
India. Misc. Publ. Occasional Paper 39, 38p.

5. Menon AGK, 1992. Taxonomy of mahseer fishes of t he genus Tor Gray wit h descript ion of a
new species from t he Deccan. J. Bombay Nat . Hist . Soc. 89 (2):210–228

6. Robert s TR (1999). "Fishes of t he cyprinid genus Tor in t he Nam Theun wat ershed, Mekong
Basin of Laos, wit h descript ion of a new species" (ht t ps://web.archive.org/web/2012042508
2711/ht t p://www.aseanbiodiversit y.info/Abst ract /53003276.pdf) (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of
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7. Jha, B.R. & Rayamajhi, A. (2010). "Tor putitora " (ht t ps://www.iucnredlist .org/species/166645/
6254146) . IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2010: e.T166645A6254146.
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9. Pinder, AC; Raghavan, R.; Brit t on, JR (2015). "The legendary hump-backed mahseer Tor sp. Of
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10. Mohindra, V.; Khare, Praveen; Lal, K. K.; Punia, P.; Singh, R. K.; Barman, A. S. & Lakra, W. S. (2007).
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(ht t ps://web.archive.org/web/20120426005627/ht t p://www.allmedjournals.com/cnmed/Mo
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11. The IUCN position statement on translocation of living organisms : Introductions, re-
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12. Cordingt on, K. De. B. 1939. Notes on Indian Mahseer. Journal of t he Bombay Nat ural Hist ory
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13. "130 lb World record mahseer shock" (ht t ps://www.advnt ure.com/feat ures/world-carp-recor
d-goes-over-100-lb) . 9 April 2011.

14. Yule, Henry, Sir. Hobson-Jobson: A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases,
and of kindred terms, etymological, historical, geographical and discursive. New ed. edit ed
by William Crooke, B.A. London: J. Murray, 1903.

15. On fish in Manasollasa (c. 1131 AD) N Sadhale, YL Nene – Asian Agri-Hist , 2005 –
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16. Michael Hangga Wismabrat a, ed. (21 January 2020). "Mengenal Lebih Dekat Ikan Dewa,
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1/22/06390061/mengenal-lebih-dekat -ikan-dewa-harganya-jut aan-dan-selalu-diburu-jelan
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m/art icle/101011/) . Vertebrate Zoology. 73: 141–152. doi:10.3897/vz.73.e101011 (ht t ps://
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genus Neolissochilus in Peninsular Malaysia" (ht t ps://www.researchgat e.net /publicat ion/28
0910873) . Zootaxa . 3962: 139–157. doi:10.11646/zoot axa.3962.1.7 (ht t ps://doi.org/10.116
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0080553) . IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2015: e.T166420A70080553.
doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-1.RLTS.T166420A70080553.en (ht t ps://doi.org/10.2305%2FIUC
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ificat ion/SpeciesList .php?genus=Parat or) . FishBase. April 2024 version.

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ht t ps://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-019-09566-y

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t e%20Fishes%20of%20India.pdf) (PDF). Nat ional Fisheries Development Board,
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Silas, E. G., Gopalakrishnan, A., John, L., and Shaji, C. P.. 2005. Genet ic ident it y of Tor malabaricus
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125–140.

Rainbot h, W. J. 1985. Neolissochilus , a new group of Sout h Asia Cyprinid fishes. Beaufort ia.
35(3): 25–35.

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Arunkumar; & Ch. Basudha. 2003. Tor barakae, a new species of mahseer fish (Cyprinidae:
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External links

Valid species list of genus Tor (ht t p://www.fishbase.org/Nomenclat ure/ValidNameList .php?crit

eria=SYNONYMS.SynGenus+%3D+%27Tor%27++AND+SYNONYMS.SynSpecies+like+%27%2
5%25%27+&vt it le=Scient ific+Names+where+Genus+Equals+%3Ci%3ETor%3C%2Fi%3E) on
FishBase.

Valid species list of genus Neolissochilus (ht t p://www.fishbase.org/Nomenclat ure/ValidName

List .php?crit eria=SYNONYMS.SynGenus+%3D+%27Neolissochilus%27++AND+SYNONYMS.Syn
Species+like+%27%25%25%27+&vt it le=Scient ific+Names+where+Genus+Equals+%3Ci%3ENe
olissochilus%3C%2Fi%3E) on FishBase.

Valid species list of genus Naziritor (ht t p://www.fishbase.org/Nomenclat ure/ValidNameList .ph

p?crit eria=SYNONYMS.SynGenus+%3D+%27Nazirit or%27++AND+SYNONYMS.SynSpecies+like
+%27%25%25%27+&vt it le=Scient ific+Names+where+Genus+Equals+%3Ci%3ENazirit or%3C%2
Fi%3E) on FishBase.

ht t p://www.mahseert rust .org

Golden Mahseer (ht t p://www.india-angling.com/)

Mahseer informat ion (ht t p://www.indianangler.com/viewforum.php?f=1)

Deccan Mahseer (ht t ps://web.archive.org/web/20100106014558/ht t p://www.mahseerangling.

com/)

Mahseer Research Cent re – India (ht t ps://web.archive.org/web/20110624063132/ht t p://www.

mahseerresearchcent re.com/)