Botia udomritthiruji

Emperor loach
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Botiidae[2]
Genus: Botia
Species: B. udomritthiruji
Binomial name
Botia udomritthiruji
H. H. Ng, 2007[3][4]

The emperor loach (Botia udomritthiruji) is a small freshwater fish in the loach family Botiidae native to the Great Tenasserim (Tanintharyi) River Basin in south Burma. It reaches 13–15 cm (5.1–5.9 in) in length, and the female's abdomen plumper than the abdomen of the male.[5]

This fish species was first caught about 1993 and was identified only relatively recently. It lives in the Tenasserim Hills, in the upper Great Tenasserim River drainage area. It was named after Thai aquarist and fish exporter Kamphol Udomritthiruj.[6] It was described in 2007, being the most recent addition to the genus Botia.

Emperor loaches are peaceful fish suitable to community aquarium tanks. However, they are difficult to obtain because of the inaccessibility of the areas where they live, in the Tenasserim range forests where there are almost no roads and where trails are infested by leeches. Unfortunately the area where they live is subject to heavy deforestation owing to illegal logging operations. Formerly there was also insurgency in this section of the hills.

References

  1. ↑ Chaudhry, S. (2012). "Botia udomritthiruji". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  2. ↑ Kottelat, M. (2012): Conspectus cobitidum: an inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Suppl. No. 26: 1-199.
  3. ↑ Ng, H.H. 2007 Botia udomritthiruji, a new species of botiid loach from southern Myanmar (Teleostei: Botiidae). Zootaxa 1608:41-49.
  4. ↑ Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2014). "Botia udomritthiruji" in FishBase. April 2014 version.
  5. ↑ SeriouslyFish: Botia udomritthiruji. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  6. ↑ Loaches Online
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