Puntigrus is a genus of Southeast Asian cyprinid barbs, separated from the sprawling Puntius/Barbus complex on the basis of the bold, vertically barred pattern shared by its member species. The atlas covers 5 species ranging from roughly 2–3 in, with records from Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, spanning Sundaic islands and mainland Southeast Asian river systems. Puntigrus species have deep, laterally compressed bodies marked with dark vertical bars against a silver-to-orange ground colour, the pattern that gives the genus and its most famous member their common name.
Puntigrus tetrazona, the tiger barb, is one of the most widely kept freshwater aquarium fish in the world, a hardy, inexpensive, actively schooling species bred in numerous colour forms and a staple of the community-tank hobby for generations, though it is also well known among hobbyists for nipping the fins of slow-moving or long-finned tankmates when kept in groups too small to diffuse its natural schooling aggression toward its own kind. Its close relatives, including P. partipentazona and P. anchisporus, share a similar barred pattern and small size but are far less commonly traded. With four of the five atlas species rated Least Concern and only one not yet evaluated, the genus is not a conservation concern.