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Amblypharyngodon mola (Hamilton, 1822)

Mola carplet

A small freshwater fish from the Indian subcontinent valued as food.

Photo: Sir Francis Day, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The mola carplet is a small species of carplet found in rivers and ponds across South Asia. It is widely caught for food in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh where it holds local importance.

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  • Scientific name is Amblypharyngodon mola.
  • Maximum recorded length is 20 cm.
  • Found in ponds, canals, and paddy fields.
  • Valued as a food fish in India.
  • IUCN confirms presence in Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.

What it is

The mola carplet is a small fish belonging to the family Danionidae. Adults typically grow to a maximum length of 20 centimetres. They possess the general shape and features common to carplets found in Asian waters. This species inhabits quiet water bodies such as ponds, canals, and slow-moving streams.

Where it lives

This fish occurs across the Indian subcontinent. Records list its presence in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. However, the IUCN confirms its existence only in Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. It avoids fast currents and prefers still or sluggish environments.

How it lives

Mola carplets live in various shallow habitats like beels and paddy fields. These areas provide shelter and likely abundant food sources. They are known to inhabit nullahs which are small drainage ditches or channels.

Breeding and life cycle

Information regarding spawning times, egg production, or juvenile growth is not provided in the available material.

Mola carplet
A drawing made by EveryFish from what this page says. It is a diagram, not a picture of the real fish.

Fish and people

In the Indian subcontinent, this fish serves as a source of food. It is caught and consumed locally where it is found. No details exist regarding farming methods, aquarium trade, or cultural festivals involving this species.

Status and threats

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists this species without a threatened status in the provided text. While present in several countries, its conservation standing is not detailed beyond general occurrence records.

Mourala (Mola carplet) of West Bengal, India
Mourala (Mola carplet) of West Bengal, India. Photo: Salil Kumar Mukherjee, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The species names / identity need verification - original names from plate are included here. The original plates showed the fishes facing right and have been flipped here. Amblypharyngodon mola
The species names / identity need verification - original names from plate are included here. The original plates showed. Photo: Francis Day, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Questions people ask about Mola carplet

What kind of fish is the mola carplet?

It is a species of carplet in the family Danionidae. It is a small freshwater fish native to the Indian subcontinent region.

Where does this fish live?

They are found in ponds, canals, beels, slow-moving streams, nullahs, and paddy fields across parts of South Asia.

How big do they get?

Adults can reach a total length of 20 centimetres, which is approximately 7.9 inches.

Is it eaten by people?

Yes, in the Indian subcontinent it has value as a food fish and is used for human consumption.

Good reading and sources

Where this page comes from

The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Mola carplet", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryFish rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.

It may contain mistakes, and figures change over time. Nothing here is investment or buying advice. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-11-15.

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Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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