Systematic posotion:
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Cypriniformes (Carps)
Family: Cobitidae (Loaches)
Genus: Botia
Species: B. lohachata
Common names: Bou, Rani, Beti (Bangladesh); Reticulate loach (Fishbase); Lohachat (India).
Distribution: Indus river system (Pakistan); Ganga drainage (India); Nepal (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991) and Bangladesh.
Conservation status: Endangered in Bangladesh (IUCN, 2000).
Morphology: Body elongated and moderately compressed. Mouth small and inferior. 4 pairs of barbels; 2 rostral pairs, 1 maxillary pair and 1 mandibular pair. Body color yellow or yellowish with 4 Y-shaped transverse bands on body runs from dorsal to ventral and transverse bars at the center of every 2 bands. Dorsal and caudal fins with 1-2 and 2-3 cross bands. Scales minute. Caudal fin forked.
Head 30.2% SL and 24.2% TL. Height 26.4% SL and 21.2% TL. Eye 18.8% HL. Lateral line present and complete. Dorsal and pelvic fins are opposite each other.
Fin formula: D. 9-10; P1. 14; P2. 8; A. 5-6
Maximum length: Maximum length reported 10 cm (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991), 7.1 cm (Hussain, 1999), and 6.6 cm (Rahman, 1989). Highest length measured 11.0 cm from Chalan beel (Bangladesh) in 2007.
Habitat: Found in freshwater bodies. Found in plains and submontane regions (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).
Breeding: During monsoon in different floodplains and rivers (Bangladesh).
Economics importance: As food and ornamental fish.
Harvesting and marketing: Marketed in fresh condition.
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References
Chaudhuri, B.L., 1912. XXXV. Descriptions of some new species of freshwater fishes from north India. Rec. Indian Mus. (Calcutta), pp. 437-444.
Hussain, M.M., 1999. Fishes and Fisheries of the River Atrai in Rajshahi with Reference to its Limnology, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Department of Zoology, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, pp. 5-200.
IUCN Bangladesh, 2000. Red Book of Threatened Fishes of Bangladesh, IUCN- The World Conservation Union, xii+, p. 116.
Rahman, A.K.A., 1989. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 1st edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, pp. 123.
Talwar, P.K. and A.G. Jhingran, 1991. Inland Fishes of India and Adjacent Countries, Vol. I, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi-Calcutta, pp. 172-173.
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