What is "garra"

Garra is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae. These fish are one example of the " log suckers", sucker-mouthed barbs and other cyprinids commonly kept in aquaria to keep down algae. The doctor fish of Kangal ( Turkey) also belongs in this genus. The majority of the more than 120 species of garras are native to Asia, but about one-fifth of the species are from Africa ( East, Middle and West, but by far the highest species richness in Ethiopia).

The genus was established by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton in 1822 as a subgenus of Cyprinus (which at that time was a " wastebin genus" for carp-like cyprinids); he did not designate a type species. But as no other garras except the newly discovered G. lamta were known to science in 1822, this was designated as the type species by Pieter Bleeker in 1863. The garras and their closest relatives are sometimes placed in a subfamily Garrinae, but this seems hardly warranted. More often, this group is included in the Labeoninae, or together with these in the Cyprininae. In the former case, the garras are members of the labeonine tribe Garrini, in the latter they are in the subtribe Garraina of tribe Labeonini. The genus Discogobio is a close relative.

Garra or GARRA may refer to:

• Garra, the garras, a cyprinid genus;
• Garra, Iran, a village in Kermanshah Province, Iran;
• the Garra people (sometimes Gara) of Kashmir;
• a misspelling of the fictional character Gaara from the manga series Naruto, or;
• the Grand American Road Racing Association, a motor sport governing body