Doctor fish
No sign-up needed. You can save notes on this device.
An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The mouth of a red garra is shaped like a scraper.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Doctor fish
- Scientific name
- Garra rufa
- Japanese name
- ガラルファ（ドクターフィッシュ）
- Group
- Freshwater animals
- Order
- Cypriniformes
- Family
- Cyprinidae
- Genus
- Garra
It is also called the doctor fish because it clings to skin and eats the dead outer layer.
How the Doctor fish lives
This fish lives in warm water. It eats algae and tiny organisms attached to stones. It also eats zooplankton and small arthropods.
Алуштинский аквариумDMMかりゆし水族館East Idaho AquariumBasic data
- Range
- Turkey and rivers of West Asia
Where the Doctor fish has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 简体中文
- 淡红墨头鱼
- 繁體中文
- 淡紅墨頭魚
- 한국어
- 가라루파
- Español
- Pez doctor
- Français
- Poisson-docteur
- Deutsch
- Rötliche Saugbarbe
- Português (Brasil)
- Peixe-médico
- العربية
- السمك الطبيب
- Русский
- Рыба-доктор
- Türkçe
- Kangal balığı
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — ガラルファChecked: 2026-11-04
- East Idaho Aquarium — Garra RufaChecked: 2026-11-05
- DMMかりゆし水族館 — ガラ・ルファChecked: 2026-11-05
- Алуштинский аквариум — Гарра-руфа (рыба-доктор) - Garra rufaChecked: 2026-11-06
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
Report a mistakeRELATIVES
Others in Cyprinidae
MORE TO MEET
