CreatureData

Bala shark

Balantiocheilos melanopterus (Bleeker, 1850)

Status not recordedbony fish

The bala shark (Balantiocheilos melanopterus) is a species in the family Cyprinidae, order Cypriniformes.

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Quick facts about the bala shark

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the bala shark live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the bala shark as introduced in 3 countries.

  1. Canada
  2. Colombia
  3. Mexico

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the bala shark endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the bala shark classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classTeleostei
  4. orderCypriniformes
  5. familyCyprinidae
  6. genusBalantiocheilos
  7. SpeciesBalantiocheilos melanopterus (Bleeker, 1850)

Synonyms Balantiocheilus melanopterus, Barbus melanopterus, Puntius melanopterus

Other names and names in other languages (8)
  • Silver sharkEnglish
  • Tricolor sharkminnowEnglish
  • HaibarbeGerman
  • ハナウグイJapanese
  • Акулий балаRussian
  • ปลาหางไหม้อินโดThai
  • Gelbschwanz-HaibarbeGerman
  • GlühschwanzbarbeGerman

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the bala shark

Other species in the same genus Balantiocheilos.

CompareBala shark vs Burnt-tailed barb

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the bala shark an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the bala shark as introduced in 3 countries: Canada, Colombia and Mexico, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

What kind of animal is the bala shark?

The bala shark (Balantiocheilos melanopterus) belongs to the family Cyprinidae in the order Cypriniformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Bala shark (Balantiocheilos melanopterus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/bala-shark

MLA

“Bala shark (Balantiocheilos melanopterus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/bala-shark.

BibTeX
@misc{bala_shark_2026,
  title = {Bala shark (Balantiocheilos melanopterus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/bala-shark},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}