Botia
Encyclopedia
Botia is a genus
of freshwater
fish
in the loach
family
(Cobitidae). It was a large genus with about 20 species. In 2004 Maurice Kottelat proposed in his paper (along with the description of Botia kubotai, see References below) to divide the genus into four related genera based on fish appearance and locality:
Another genus, Parabotia
, was considered a separate genus earlier. It has an elongated body quite similar to Syncrossus
, but with its range mostly restricted to China.
The fish in these genera possess a pair of razor-sharp spines under their eye sockets. These spines normally lie flat, but may be extended when the loach feels threatened. This behavior is rarely observed when the fish is swimming, but care must be taken when catching botia in fishnets — the projecting spines may become entangled, causing injury to the fish and/or damage to the net. Care must also be taken when transporting the larger botia, as their subocular spines may puncture the enclosing polyethylene
bags that are normally used for this purpose.
One special characteristic of this loach group is the ability to produce a loud "clicking" noise, which is commonly heard during feeding time. This noise stems from a special type of pharyngeal teeth
that are used to extract snails from their shells. For aquarists, this gives the botia a practical application, as they can be used to fight a snail infestation.
Another peculiarity of botia is that they are often seen resting on their side or in other strange positions. While this can be normal, healthy behaviour for botia, it is rarely observed in other types of fish. The unusual habit often causes needless panic for the inexperienced aquarist, who mistakenly assumes their fish is ill.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of freshwater
Fresh Water
Fresh Water is the debut album by Australian rock and blues singer Alison McCallum, released in 1972. Rare for an Australian artist at the time, it came in a gatefold sleeve...
fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
in the loach
Loach (fish)
Cobitidae is the family of the true loaches, which are Old World freshwater fish. They occur throughout Eurasia and in Morocco, and inhabit riverine ecosystems. Today, most "loaches" are placed in other families...
family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
(Cobitidae). It was a large genus with about 20 species. In 2004 Maurice Kottelat proposed in his paper (along with the description of Botia kubotai, see References below) to divide the genus into four related genera based on fish appearance and locality:
- Botia for Indian loaches (shorter body).
- Chromobotia for clown loachClown loachThe clown loach, Chromobotia macracanthus, is a tropical freshwater fish belonging to the Cobitidae family. It is the sole member of the Chromobotia genus. It originates in inland waters in Indonesia on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo...
. - SyncrossusSyncrossusSyncrossus is a genus of Southeast Asian loaches. It contains five species, many of which are popular in the aquarium fish trade.-Species:* Syncrossus beauforti Syncrossus is a genus of Southeast Asian loaches. It contains five species, many of which are popular in the aquarium fish...
for tiger loaches (elongated body). - YasuhikotakiaYasuhikotakiaYasuhikotakia is a genus of loaches, many which are popular aquarium fish. It is named in honor of Japanese collector/researcher Dr. Yasuhiko Taki. This genus has been separated from the genus Botia in the paper by Maurice Kottelat in 2004. Some future study might further place Y. sidthimunki and Y...
for MekongMekongThe Mekong is a river that runs through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annually....
loaches (shorter body).
Another genus, Parabotia
Parabotia
Parabotia is a genus of loaches that are found in East and Southeast Asia. There are currently 11 described species in this genus.-Species:* Parabotia banarescui * Parabotia bimaculata J. X. Chen, 1980...
, was considered a separate genus earlier. It has an elongated body quite similar to Syncrossus
Syncrossus
Syncrossus is a genus of Southeast Asian loaches. It contains five species, many of which are popular in the aquarium fish trade.-Species:* Syncrossus beauforti Syncrossus is a genus of Southeast Asian loaches. It contains five species, many of which are popular in the aquarium fish...
, but with its range mostly restricted to China.
The fish in these genera possess a pair of razor-sharp spines under their eye sockets. These spines normally lie flat, but may be extended when the loach feels threatened. This behavior is rarely observed when the fish is swimming, but care must be taken when catching botia in fishnets — the projecting spines may become entangled, causing injury to the fish and/or damage to the net. Care must also be taken when transporting the larger botia, as their subocular spines may puncture the enclosing polyethylene
Polyethylene
Polyethylene or polythene is the most widely used plastic, with an annual production of approximately 80 million metric tons...
bags that are normally used for this purpose.
One special characteristic of this loach group is the ability to produce a loud "clicking" noise, which is commonly heard during feeding time. This noise stems from a special type of pharyngeal teeth
Pharyngeal teeth
Pharyngeal teeth are teeth in the pharyngeal arch of the throat of cyprinids, suckers, and a number of other fish species lacking teeth.Popular aquarium fish such as goldfish and loaches have these structures. Members of the Botia genus such as clown loaches are known to make distinctive clicking...
that are used to extract snails from their shells. For aquarists, this gives the botia a practical application, as they can be used to fight a snail infestation.
Another peculiarity of botia is that they are often seen resting on their side or in other strange positions. While this can be normal, healthy behaviour for botia, it is rarely observed in other types of fish. The unusual habit often causes needless panic for the inexperienced aquarist, who mistakenly assumes their fish is ill.
Species
- Botia almorhae J. E. GrayJohn Edward GrayJohn Edward Gray, FRS was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray ....
, 1831 (Almorha loach, Yo-yo loach, Pakistani loach) - Botia birdi Chaudhuri, 1909 (Birdi loach)
- Botia darioBotia darioThe Bengal Loach, or Queen Loach is a species of loach fish found in the hill streams of Bangladesh.These fish are threatened by pesticide used in the cultivation of rice...
(F. HamiltonFrancis Buchanan-HamiltonDr Francis Buchanan, later known as Francis Hamilton but often referred to as Francis Buchanan-Hamilton was a Scottish physician who made significant contributions as a geographer, zoologist, and botanist while living in India.The standard botanical author abbreviation Buch.-Ham. is applied to...
, 1822) (Bengal loach, queen loach) - Botia dayi HoraSunder Lal HoraSunder Lal Hora was an Indian ichthyologist.Famous for the Satpura Hypothesis, a zoo-geographical hypothesis proposed by him that suggests that the central Indian Satpura Range of hills acted as a bridge providing for the Malayan affinity of many Indian fauna and flora in the peninsula and the...
, 1932 (Hora loach) - Botia histrionica BlythEdward BlythEdward Blyth was an English zoologist and pharmacist. He was one of the founders of zoology in India....
, 1860 (Golden zebra loach) - Botia javedi Mirza & Syed, 1995
- Botia kubotaiBotia kubotaiThe Burmese Border loach, angelicus loach or polka dot loach, Botia kubotai, is a recently described species that has quickly become a popular tropical fish for freshwater aquariums...
KottelatMaurice KottelatDr. Maurice Kottelat is a Swiss ichthyologist.In 1976 he entered the University of Neuchâtel where he obtained his diploma in 1987. In 1980 he went to Thailand where he began his field research on Southeast Asiatic and Indonesian fresh water fish species...
, 2004 (Burmese Border loach) - Botia lohachata Chaudhuri, 1912 (Reticulate loach)
- Botia macrolineata Teugels, De Vos & Snoeks, 1986
- Botia pulchripinnis Paysan, 1970
- Botia rostrata Günther, 1868 (Gangetic loach, Sergeant major loach)
- Botia striataBotia striataThe zebra loach, Botia striata, is a small freshwater fish native to Southern India. The maximum size is about 3 in . It lives in tropical climate with temperature range of 23-26°C , and prefers water with 6.0 to 8.0 pH, 5.0 to 12 dGH....
Narayan RaoC. R. Narayan RaoC.R. Narayan Rao was an Indian zoologist and herpetologist.Born in Coimbatore, he studied in Bellary and at the Madras Christian College under Professor Henderson who headed the department of zoology. After obtaining his graduate and post-graduate degrees and a gold medal for proficiency, he...
, 1920 (Zebra loach) - Botia udomritthirujiBotia udomritthirujiThe emperor loach, Botia udomritthiruji, is a small freshwater fish native to Southeastern Burma. The maximum size is about 3 in . Their maximum size is 11.5 cm and the female's abdomen plumper than the abdomen of the male....
H. H. Ng, 2007 (Emperor loach)
Species previously placed here
- Botia beauforti - Chameleon loach (now Syncrossus beauforti)
- Botia berdmorei (now Syncrossus berdmoreiSyncrossus berdmoreiSyncrossus berdmorei, , is a freshwater loach from Thailand. "This species lives in fast mountain streams and large rivers, over soft substrates and often near submerged boulders and fallen trees." Unlike most loaches Syncrossus berdmorei is very aggressive, especially when food is added to the...
) - Botia eos (now Yasuhikotakia eos)
- Botia helodes (now Syncrossus helodes)
- Botia hymenophysa - Banded loach, tiger loach, zebra loach (now Syncrossus hymenophysa)
- Botia lecontei - Silver loach (now asuhikotakia lecontei)
- Botia macracanthus - Clown loach, tiger botia (now Chromobotia macracanthus)
- Botia modesta - Orangefin loach (now Yasuhikotakia modestaYasuhikotakia modestaThe blue botia, Yasuhikotakia modesta, is a tropical freshwater fish of the Cobitidae family of loaches. In the wild, it comes from large rivers in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam...
) - Botia morleti - Skunk loach (now Yasuhikotakia morletiYasuhikotakia morletiThe skunk loach, skunk botia or Hora's loach, Yasuhikotakia morleti , is a freshwater tropical fish found in the Mekong River and various rivers in Thailand. The maximum size is 10 cm and it occurs in water with parameters 26 - 30 ° C temperature, pH 6.0 to 8.0, hardness 5.0 to 12.0...
) - Botia nigrolineata (now Yasuhikotakia nigrolineata)
- Botia sidthimunki - Dwarf loach, ladderback loach, pygmy loach (now Yasuhikotakia sidthimunkiYasuhikotakia sidthimunkiThe dwarf loach, ladderback loach, pygmy loach, chain loach or chain botia, Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki , is a popular freshwater tropical fish in aquariums belonging to the Cobitidae family....
)