Botia

Taxobox
name = "Botia"

---

image_caption = "Botia striata"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Cypriniformes
familia = Cobitidae
genus = "Botia"
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "About 20. See Text"

Botia is a genus of freshwater fish in the loach family (Cobitidae). It was a large genus with about 20 species. In 2004 Maurice Kottelat proposed in his paper (along with the description of "Botia kubotai", see References below) to divide the genus into four related genera based on the fish appearance and locality:

* "Botia" for Indian loaches (shorter body).
* "Chromobotia" for clown loach.
* "Syncrossus" for tiger loaches (elongated body).
* "Yasuhikotakia" for Mekong loaches (shorter body).

Another genus "Parabotia", considered a separate genus earlier, has elongated body quite like Syncrossus but has its range mostly in China.

The fish in these genera possesses a pair of spines under the eye sockets. They are normally hidden but may be extracted when the loach feels threathened. This behavior is infrequently observed. However, care has to be taken when catching it using fishnet as the extracted spines may get entangled to the nets causing injury. One special capability of these loach group is the ability to produce loud "clicking" noise, which is commonly heard during feeding time. This noise stems from a special organ used for sucking snails from their shells. To aquarists, this gives the botia a practical application, as they can be used to fight a snail infestation.

Many loach individuals prefer to sleep on their side or other strange positions.

Species

*"Botia almorhae" - Yo-yo loach, Pakistani loach
*"Botia beauforti" - Chameleon loach (now "Syncrossus beauforti")
*"Botia berdmorei" (now "Syncrossus berdmorei")
*"Botia dario" - Bengal loach, queen loach
*"Botia eos" (now "Yasuhikotakia eos")
*"Botia helodes" (now "Syncrossus helodes")
*"Botia histrionica" - Golden zebra loach
*"Botia hymenophysa" - Banded loach, tiger loach, zebra loach (now "Syncrossus hymenophysa")
*"Botia kubotai" - Burmese Border loach
*"Botia lecontei" - Silver loach (now "Yasuhikotakia lecontei")
*"Botia macracanthus" - Clown loach, tiger botia (now "Chromobotia macracanthus")
*"Botia modesta" - Orangefin loach (now "Yasuhikotakia modesta")
*"Botia morleti" - Skunk loach (now "Yasuhikotakia morleti")
*"Botia nigrolineata" (now "Yasuhikotakia nigrolineata")
*"Botia rostrata" - Sergeant major loach, Twin-banded Loach, Ladder Loach, Dohser (India), Gangetic Loach (India)
*"Botia sidthimunki" - Dwarf loach, ladderback loach, pygmy loach (now "Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki")
*"Botia striata" - Zebra loach
*"Botia udomritthiruji" - Emperor loach

Gallery

References

* Kottelat, M. 2004. "Botia kubotai", a new species of loach (Teleostei: Cobitidae) from the Ataran River basin (Myanmar), with comments on botiine nomenclature and diagnosis of a new genus. Zootaxa, 401: 1-18.
* "Botia." "FishBase". ed. Froese, R. and D. Pauly (09/2004), URL: [http://www.fishbase.org/Eschmeyer/GeneraSummary.cfm?ID=Botia&fromsearch=1 Botia]
* "Botia." "ITIS Standard Report". (Integrated Taxonomic Information System: National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C., 2004-10-11). [http://www.itis.usda.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=638919 ITIS 638919]