Animal field guide
Bala Shark
Balantiocheilos melanopterus
Despite the name, this is a carp-family fish, not a shark: a silvery, torpedo-shaped minnow whose tall dorsal fin gives a shark-like profile. It lives in schools that swim fast in open water, and wild populations have declined steeply over recent decades.
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Get AnimalDexBala Shark at a glance
Fish · Southeast Asia · Mid-water of medium and large · Relatively common
Known for: Large reflective scales in neat rows, Dorsal, Yellowish band inside the black fin margins, Deeply forked tail
Animal field guide
Bala Shark
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Despite the name, this is a carp-family fish, not a shark: a silvery, torpedo-shaped minnow whose tall dorsal fin gives a shark-like profile. It lives in schools that swim fast in open water, and wild populations have declined steeply over recent decades.
Native range
Natural range, not this capture location
Mid-water of medium and large rivers and some lakes in lowland Southeast Asia, including the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo, usually in clear to slightly turbid water over sand or gravel.
Search near meAnimalDex stats
Dominance
25
Speed
40
Size
20
Intelligence
28
Rarity
16%
Total
129
Size scale
STEP 2 · PROVE IT
STEP 3 · BATTLE & FUSE
Understand the animal
Understand the Bala Shark
Factual biology first: what this animal is like, where it lives, how it survives, and why those traits exist.
01
Introduction to Bala Shark
Despite the name, this is a carp-family fish, not a shark: a silvery, torpedo-shaped minnow whose tall dorsal fin gives a shark-like profile. It lives in schools that swim fast in open water, and wild populations have declined steeply over recent decades.
How to identify a Bala Shark
- Large reflective scales in neat rows
- Dorsal, tail, anal and pelvic fins edged in black
- Yellowish band inside the black fin margins
- Deeply forked tail
Why Bala Shark are interesting
- Adults reach about 30 to 35 centimetres, far larger than the small juveniles sold for home aquaria.
- It is a strong jumper and readily leaps out of open tanks when startled.
- The species name melanopterus means black-finned, after the dark fin edges.
- Like other carp-family fish it has no teeth in its jaws, and grinds food with bony teeth in the throat.
02
Adaptations and biological abilities
03
Why does Bala Shark behave this way?
- Large reflective scales in neat rows
- Dorsal, tail, anal and pelvic fins edged in black
- Yellowish band inside the black fin margins
- Deeply forked tail
Active by day, swimming in schools. How it rests at night in the wild has not been documented; captive fish are reported to slow down and hold position low in the water after dark.
04
Why Mid-water of medium and large rivers and some lakes in lowland Southeast Asia?
Habitat: Mid-water of medium and large rivers and some lakes in lowland Southeast Asia, including the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo, usually in clear to slightly turbid water over sand or gravel.
Native range: Southeast Asia, Sumatra, Borneo
Native range
Natural range, not this specific capture location.
Some regional overlays are unavailable in this web build.
Mid-water of medium and large rivers and some lakes in lowland Southeast Asia, including the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo, usually in clear to slightly turbid water over sand or gravel.
05
Why this diet?
Omnivorous. It picks small crustaceans, insect larvae, fallen insects and zooplankton from the water column, and also takes algae and plant material.
06
Activity, rest, and lifespan
Active by day, swimming in schools. How it rests at night in the wild has not been documented; captive fish are reported to slow down and hold position low in the water after dark.
Wild lifespan has not been documented. Aquarium fish commonly live about 8 to 10 years.
07
Bala Shark reproduction
Breeding in the wild is poorly documented; spawning is thought to follow rising rivers early in the rainy season. Fish farms breed it with hormone injections, and neither parent is known to guard eggs or young.
The sexes look almost identical. Mature females are slightly deeper and rounder in the belly, especially before spawning.
08
Predators, threats, and defense
Larger predatory fish and fish-eating birds take young and adults. Schooling and rapid bursts of speed are its main defences. Dams, pollution, habitat loss and past collection of wild fish for the aquarium trade are the serious threats.
09
Conservation and rarity
Rarity: Relatively common · 16/100. AnimalDex canonical rarity score: 16/100, maintained by the live indexed species profile.
- Observe from a respectful distance and avoid changing the animal's behavior.
- Do not block feeding, shelter, nesting, or travel routes.
- Use a live camera capture without handling or staging wildlife.
Speak to the animal
Speak to the Bala Shark
It answers as itself: ask about how it lives, or bring it something of yours and hear what it would do, from its own Power.
Anonymous: 3/day. Signed-in: 10/day. Pro: 100/day.
Compare
Compare the Bala Shark
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Battled in the Arena
No one has taken a Bala Shark into an Arena battle yet. Battles players fight with this animal in the AnimalDex app show up here.
Where to find them
Where to find Bala Shark
To find Bala Shark in the wild, focus on the exact habitat patches that match its body design and daily behavior, not just the broad country where it exists. You usually do better by working one good piece of habitat inside southeast Asia, Sumatra, Borneo than by covering too much ground.
- Quiet marsh edges, reedbeds, river bends, or shallow wetland margins
- Protected habitat blocks within southeast Asia, Sumatra, Borneo
Scientific name
Balantiocheilos melanopterus
Category
Fish
Habitat
Mid-water of medium and large rivers and some lakes in lowland Southeast Asia, including the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo, usually in clear to slightly turbid water over sand or gravel.
Rarity
Relatively common · 16/100
Native range
Southeast Asia, Sumatra, Borneo
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