The Fish That Ruled India's Rivers
Tor putitora, the golden mahseer, can reach 2.75 metres in length and weigh over 54 kg, making it one of the largest freshwater fish in Asia. It belongs to the cyprinid family, the same broad group as carp, but there is nothing ordinary about it. The scales are large, bronze-gold, and iridescent in moving water. The body is built for fast, cold, oxygen-rich rivers: deep-chested, powerful, with a mouth designed to work rocky riverbeds. In the Himalayan rivers of Uttarakhand, it was the apex freshwater species for millennia.
