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Review
. 2025 Feb 27;11(1):3.
doi: 10.1186/s40851-025-00249-0.

Potential of Garra rufa as a novel high-temperature resistant model fish: a review on current and future approaches

Yasuhito Shimada  1   2   3 , Baki Aydın  4 , Koto Kon-Nanjo  5 , Kiki Syaputri Handayani  6 , Victor David Nico Gultom  6 , Oleg Simakov  5 , Fahrurrozi  6 , Tetsuo Kon  5
Affiliations
Review

Potential of Garra rufa as a novel high-temperature resistant model fish: a review on current and future approaches

Yasuhito Shimada et al. Zoological Lett. .

Abstract

Garra rufa, commonly known as the "doctor fish", is a freshwater cyprinid native to warm regions of the Middle East. Since the late twentieth century, it has been widely utilized in spas for alternative therapeutics and fish pedicures (or manicures) for dermatological diseases such as psoriasis and eczema. Owing to its unique characteristics, there is growing interest in exploring various applications of G. rufa. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the phylogenetic position, ecology, biological characteristics, and breeding methods of G. rufa, and provides insights into its use as a therapeutic fish. Notably, the ability of G. rufa to thrive in high-temperature environments exceeding 37 °C distinguishes it from other cyprinids and suggests its potential as a model for human diseases, such as human infectious diseases, and in use in cancer xenograft models for high-throughput drug screening. The ongoing genome sequencing project for G. rufa aims to elucidate the mechanisms underlying its high-temperature tolerance and offers valuable genomic resources. These efforts have resulted in significant advances in fish aquaculture, species conservation, and biomedical research.

Keywords: Cyprinid; Genome assembly; High-temperature tolerance; Ichthyotherapy; Red garra; Small fish model.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Phylogenetic relationship between humans, G. rufa, and other model organisms. The phylogenetic relationships between humans, G. rufa, and other common vertebrate model animals, and amphioxus are illustrated. The common and scientific names of each animal are displayed to the right of each animal silhouette, and further to the right, a brief description of the characteristics of each animal as a model organism is provided. The topology of the cladogram is based on previous studies [22, 23]. WGD, whole-genome duplication; 1R/2R, first and second rounds of WGD; Ts3R, teleost-specific third-round WGD; Cs4R, common carp and goldfish-specific fourth round WGD [–19]. Animal silhouettes are from PhyloPic (www.phylopic.org)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Gross appearance of G. rufa. a-b Gross appearance of an adult (a) and young (b) G. rufa. (c) Lateral view of mouth of adult G. rufa. (d) Frontal view of young mouth. The mouth (black arrows) in G. rufa has the additional function to adhere to bottom surfaces and to scoop up food particles. (e) G. rufa engaging in ichthyotherapy
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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