Synonyms
Botia lohachata Chaudhuri, 1912
Botia lohachata Qureshi, 1965
Botia lohachata Menon, 1974
Common name: Y-loach
Local name: Rani, putul
Taxonomy position:
Phylum- Chordata
Class-Oesteichthyes
Order-Cypriniformes
Family- Cobitidae
Genus- Botia
Fin formula:
D. 11 (2/9); P1.14: P2. 8: A. 7 (2/5) (Rahman, 2005)
D i 9-10; A i 5-6; P 14; V i 8 (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991)
Description of the species:
Elongate body moderately compressed. Mouth is small and inferior. Barbells are 4 pairs, among them 2 rostral, 1 maxillary and 1 mandibular pairs. Suborbital spine is strong and extending bellow the posterior edge of the orbit. Four Y-shaped transverse bands run from back to abdomen and transverse bar or blotch at centre between every two. Dorsal with one and caudal with two cross bands. (Rahman, 1989; Rahman, 2005; Rahman and Ruma, 2007; Talwar and Jhingran, 1991)
Longest specimen examined was 66 mm in total length by Rahman (1989).
Habit and Habitat:
This fish is demarsal, oviparous and feeds on worms, snails, small fish etc. and inhabits creeks with rocky and sandy bottoms (Rahman and Ruma, 2007). Chowdhury (1912) described the species from Gandhak River in saran, Bihar (India), Common near Sialkot and upper reaches of Pakistan. The author collected specimens from the Barnai river, Rajshahi.
Ecological importance:
Plays an important role in controlling the snail population (Rahman and Ruma, 2007)
Economic importance:
In aquarium trade, this fish is called Pakistani loach. Sterba (1963) said, this species is said to be sociable, as well as less shy and pugnacious than other Botia spp. in theaquaria.
Status and conservation:
This fish is available in fish markets of the study 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:
Chowdhury, B. L. 1912. Description of some new species of freshwater fishes from North India. Rec. Indian Mus. Calcutta. 7: 437-441.
IUCN Bangladesh. 2000. Red Book of Threatened Fishes of Bangladesh. IUCN- The World Conservation Union. xii+116 pp.
Menon, A. G. K. 1974, A Checklist of the Fishes of the Himalayan and the Indo-gangetic Plains. Inland Fisheries Society India, Barrackpore, p 51.
Qureshi, M. R. 1965. Common Freshwater Fishes of Pakistan. Karachi VIII. p 26.
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 155.
Rahman, A.K.A. and Ruma F. 2007. Botia lohachata (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.103.
Shaw and Shebbeare, 1937, The Fishes of Northern Bangal. Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal Science. p 65.
Sterba, G. 1963. The freshwater Fishes of the world. Translated and revised by D. W. Tucker. London. 878pp.
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 539.
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