Himalayan olyra, Olyra kempi Chaudhuri, 1912

Systematic position
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Siluriformes (Catfishes)
Family: Bagridae (Bagrid catfishes)
Genus: Olyra
Species: O. kempi

Common/local names
English: Himalayan olyra
India:  Botsinghi (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991)

Distributions: Bangladesh, India and Myanmar (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Conservation status: Not threatened in Bangladesh (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000). At present this species is rare in Bangladesh (Rahman, 2005).

Morphology: Body elongated and deeply compressed. Mouth terminal and upper jaw slightly longer than that of lower. Head depressed and snout rounded. Barbels four pairs. Pectoral spine comparatively strong than dorsal and serrated on both edges and also enveloped in skin. Dorsal and anal fin base enveloped in thick layer of skin. Caudal fin forked and upper lobe comparatively long.

The body color is dark-reddish. A narrow and dark brown band along the lateral line. Two pale brown longitudinal bands on both sides of lateral line.

Fin formula:
D. 8 (1/7); Pi. 7 (1/6); P2. 6 (1/5); A. 18-19 (Rahman, 1989 and 2005)
D i 6-7; A iii 15-20; P I 4-6; V i 5 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991)

Maximum lengths: 14.5 cm (Rahman, 1989 and 2005) and 11 cm (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Habitats: Commonly found in small rocky streams at the base of hills (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

According to Rahman (1989 and 2005) several  specimen were collected from Piyan gang (Dahuki river) at Sangrampunji of Sylhet (Bangladesh).

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REFERENCES

Chaudhuri BL. 1912. XXXV. Descriptions of some new species of freshwater fishes from north India. Records of the Indian Museum (Calcutta) v. 7 (pt 5): 437-444, Pls. 38-41.

IUCN Bangladesh. 2000. Red book of threatened fishes of Bangladesh, IUCN- The world conservation union. xii+116 pp.

Rahman AKA. 1989. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 1st edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, p. 172.

Rahman AKA. 2005. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 2^nd edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 191-192.

Talwar PK and Jhingran AG. 1991. Inland Fishes of India and Adjacent Countries, Vol. 2, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi-Calcutta, p. 696.

 

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