Synonyms:
Cobitis dario Hamilton, 1822
Botio dario Day, 1878
Botio dario Shaw and Shebbeare, 1937
Botio dario Bhuiyan, 1964
Common name: Necktie loach, Queen loach, Bengal loach
Local name: Rani, bau, putul, Beti
Taxonomy position:
Phylum- Chordata
Class-Oesteichthyes
Order-Cypriniformes
Family- Cobitidae
Genus- Botia
Fin formula:
D. 11-13 (2- 3/9-10); P1.14; P2. 8; A. 7- 8 (2/5-6) (Rahman, 2005)
D iii 9-10; A ii 5-6; p 14; V i 7 (Talwar and Jhingran 1991)
Description of the species:
Body elongated and laterally compressed. Dorsal profile is more arched than that of ventral. Head flattened at sides. Mouth is small and ventral. Eyes are in the middle of the length of head. Four pairs of barbles are present and among them 2 rostral, 1 maxillary and I mandibular pairs. Body encircled by 7 oblique brown or black bands, separated by yellowish ones of equal or shorter width, caudal with 2-4 broken black bands. (Rahman, 1989; Rahman, 2005; Rahman and Ruma, 2007; Talwar and Jhingran, 1991)
According to Bhuiyan (1964), maximum length recorded about 18 cm longest specimen in collection 8 cm. It attains a size of 9 cm (Talwar and Jhingran 1991). In the wild they exceed no more than 8.9 cm in length, in the aquarium they have not been known to grow large than 7.5 cm (Rahman and Ruma, 2007).
Habit and Habitat:
Generally bottom feeder and widely distributed throughout rivers, cannals, beels and undated fields of Rajshahi area (Bhuiyan et al., 1992). This fish found abundant in streams of Mymensingh, Sylhet, Dinajpur, Rangpur and Chittangong Hill-Tracts (Rahman, 1989).
Ecological role:
This species known to control the snail population in the ecosystem in which they occur (Rahman and Ruma, 2007)
Economic importance:
This species reared in aquarium as an ornamental fish and it is like by the people for its good flavour (Bhuiyan, 1964).
Status and conservation:
This fish is available in fish markets specially rainy season in Rajshahi area but not abundant and listed as Endangered in IUCN Red book of threatened fish of Bangladesh by IUCN Bangladesh (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000).
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References:
Bhuiyan, A. L. 1964. Fishes of Dacca. Asiatic Society of Pakistan, Dacca. p 50.
Bhuiyan, A. S., Islam, M. N. and Hossen, T. 1992. A check list of the fishes of Rajshahi. The Rajshahi University Studies Part-B, Vol-xx, p. 287-306.
Day, F. 1878. Fishes of India, being a natural history of fishes known to inhabit the seas and freshwaters of India, Burma and Ceylon. William Dawson & Sons Ltd., London, Vol. I: p 606.
Hamilton, F., 1822. An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches, Edinburgh & London, Fishes Ganges, p. 354
Rahman, A.K.A. 2005. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh (Second edition). The Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000. 394 pp.
Rahman, A.K.A. 1989. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh. The Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000. p 154.
Rahman, A.K.A. and Ruma F. 2007. Botia dario (Hamilton, 1822). In: Siddiqui, K.U., Islam, M.A., Kabir, S.M.H., Ahmed, M., Ahmed, A.T.A., Rahman, A.K.A., Haque, E.U., Ahmed, Z.U., Begum, Z.N.T., Hasan, M.A., Khondker, M., and Rahman, M.M. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Flora and Fauna of Bangladesh, Vol. 23. Freshwater Fishes. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka. p.102.
Shaw and Shebbeare, 1937, The Fishes of Northern Bangal. Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal Science. p 65.
Talwar, P. K. and Jhingran, A. G., 1991. Inland Fishes of India and Adjacent Countries. Volume 1. Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, Calcutta. p 537.
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