Botiidae, the pointface loaches, is a family of cypriniform ray-finned fishes from South, Southeast, and East Asia. Until recently they were placed in the true loach family Cobitidae, until Maurice Kottelat revised the loaches and re-elevated this taxon to family rank in 2012.[2] The family includes about 56 species.
| Botiidae | |
|---|---|
| |
| Tiger loach Syncrossus berdmorei | |
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| Zebra loach (Botia striata) with the fusiform shape typical of Botiidae | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cypriniformes |
| Superfamily: | Cobitoidei |
| Family: | Botiidae L. S. Berg, 1940[1] |
| Genera | |
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see text | |
The Botiids are more robust than most of their relatives in Cobitidae and tend to have a more or less arched back, yielding an altogether more fusiform shape. Botiids typically have a pointed snout of intermediate length, while many cobitids are remarkably stub-nosed.
Botiids are generally fairly small, with maximum lengths between 6 and 30 cm (2.4 and 11.8 in) depending on the species involved, although Leptobotia elongata reaches 50 cm (20 in)[3] (Chromobotia macracanthus has been claimed to reach a similar size, but this would be exceptional).[4]
Genera
editBotiidae contains the following genera:[5]
- Ambastaia Kottelat, 2012
- Botia Gray, 1831
- Chromobotia Kottelat, 2004
- Leptobotia Bleeker, 1870
- Parabotia Guichenot, 1872
- Sinibotia P.-W. Fang, 1936
- Syncrossus Blyth, 1860
- Yasuhikotakia Nalbant, 2002
As aquarium fish
editMany of the more brightly colored species are popular with freshwater aquarists, so are of importance in the aquarium trade. Botiidae often encountered in aquarium trade include:
- Clown loach, Chromobotia macracanthus
- Red-finned loach, Yasuhikotakia modesta
- Dwarf loach, Ambastaia sidthimunki
- Skunk loach, Yasuhikotakia morleti
- Yoyo loach, Botia almorhae
- Zebra loach, B. striata
- Bengal loach, B. dario
- Burmese border loach, B. kubotai
References
edit- Kottelat, M. (2004): Botia kubotai, a new species of loach (Teleostei: Cobitidae) from the Ataran River basin (Myanmar), with comments on botiine nomenclature and diagnosis of a new genus. Zootaxa 401: 1–18. PDF abstract and first page image
- Tang, Qiong-ying; Yu, Dan & Liu, Huan-zhang (2008): 斑纹薄鳅 (Leptobotia zebra) 应该为斑纹沙鳅 (Sinibotia zebra) ["Leptobotia zebra Should Be Revised as Sinibotia zebra (Cypriniformes-Botiidae)"]. Zoological Research 29(1): 1-9 [Chinese with English abstract]. PDF fulltext
- ^ Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 1–230. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1. PMID 25543675.
- ^ Kottelat, M. (2012): Conspectus cobitidum: an inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei). Archived February 11, 2013, at the Wayback Machine The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement No. 26: 1-199.
- ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Leptobotia elongata". FishBase. June 2014 version.
- ^ Åhlander, Ola (2 September 2004). "Clown loach Chromobotia macracanthus (Bleeker 1852)". www.bollmoraakvarieklubb.org. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
- ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Botiidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
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