[3] The greenstripe barb was first formally descripted as Puntius vittatus in 1865 by the British military surgeon and naturalist Francis Day with its type locality given as Cochin[3] In 2023 Hiranya Sudasinghe, Lukas Rüber and Madhava Meegaskumbura proposed the new monotypic genus, Bhava, for this species.

[1] The greenstripe barb is the only member of the genus Bhava, a word on Pali or Sanskrit means "existence or being", an allusion the authors did not explain.

The specific name, vittata, means "banded", an allusion to the stripe on the rear part of the dorsal fin in individuals over 2 cm (0.79 in) in length.

[1] The greenstripe barb moves slowly over the substrate, picking at algaa, zooplankton and detritus.

They prefer open waters with mud substrate, sometimes being recorded from river mouths near the sea.