Hora loach, Botia dayi Hora, 1932

Systematic position
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned fishes)
Order: Cypriniformes (Carps)
Family: Cobitidae (Loaches)
Subfamily: Botiinae
Genus: Botia
Species: B. dayi

Common/Local name
English: Hora loach
Bangladesh: Rani (রাণি), Bou (বউ), Betangi (বেতাঙ্গি) and Betee (বেটি)
India: Botya loach (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Distributions: Bangladesh, Pakistan (Indus drainage) and India (Darjeeling Himalaya nd Brahmaputra drainage of Assam) (Bhuiyan, 1964; Talwar and Jhingran, 1991).

Conservation status: Data deficient in Bangladesh (IUCN Bangladesh, 2000). Scarcely seen in the markets of Bangladesh (Bhuiyan, 1964).

Morphology: The body is elongated and laterally compressed. Head broad and pointed. Mouth small and eyes placed in posterior half of head. Barbels 4 pairs. Scales minute and conspicuous. Caudal deeply forked and it’s lobe not only pointed but also sharp.

Body color is yellowish to brown. Several irregular and partly confluent cross bands present on flank. Several cross brown bands present on head and three on the tail. Fins possess slight coloration with two or three black bands. Hamilton (1822) considered this species to be a color variety of Botia dario.

Fin formula:
D. 12 (3/9); P. 14; V. 8; A. 7 (2/5); C. 19 (Bhuiyan, 1964)
D. 12 (3/9); P­₁. 14; P₂. 8; A. 7 (2/5); C. 19 (Rahman, 1989)
D ii-iii 9; A ii 5; P ii 11-12; V i 7 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991)
D. 13(3/10); P. 14; V. 8; A. 7 (2/5); C. 19 (Shafi and Quddus, 2001)

Maximum lengths: 15 cm (Bhuiyan, 1964), 12 cm (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991) and 18 cm (Shafi and Quddus, 2001).

Habitats: Canals, beels, haors, baors and rivers and prefers muddy bottom (Shafi and Quddus, 2001).

Importance: Of no interest to fisheries (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). Bhuiyan (1964) described it as a tasty fish.

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REFERENCES

Bhuiyan AL. 1964. Fishes of Dacca, Asiat. Soc. Pakistan, Pub. 1, No. 13, Dacca, pp. 49-50.

Hamilton F. 1822 An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches. Edinburgh & London. An account of the fishes found in the river Ganges and its branches.: i-vii + 1-405, Pls. 1-39.

Hora SL. 1932. Notes on fishes in the Indian Museum. XIX. On a new loach of the genus Botia, with remarks on B. dario (Ham. Buch.). Records of the Indian Museum (Calcutta) v. 34 (pt 4): 571-573.

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. 156.

Rahman AKA. 2005. Freshwater Fishes of Bangladesh, 2^nd edition, Zoological Society of Bangladesh, Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, p. 175.

Shafi M and Quddus MMA. 2001. Bangladesher Matsho Shampad (Fisheries of Bangladesh) (in Bengali), Kabir publication. Dhaka, Bangladesh. pp. 167-168.

Talwar PK and Jhingran AG. 1991. Inland Fishes of India and Adjacent Countries, Vol. 1, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi-Calcutta, pp. 538-539.

 

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