Saturday 13 January 2018

Lepidocephalichthys eleios: A new species of Loach from the Lake Indawgyi Basin of Kachin State, Myanmar.

Loach, Corbitidae, are freshwater Cypriniform Fish related to Carp and Minnows, found across Eurasia and in parts of North Africa. They lack scales and are often vermiform (worm) shaped, and are intelligent and highly successful omnivores, capable of feeding on plants, detritus, and a wide range animal prey. The oldest fossil Loach are known from the late Early Oligocene of Shandong Province in China, with Late Oligocene Loach known from Öhningen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Members of the genus Lepidocephalichthys, are found in slow flowing streams, lakes and marshes across South and Southeast Asia from Pakistan to western Indonesia.

In a paper published in the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology on 17 November 2017, Maurice Kottelat of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum at the National University of Singapore, describes a new species of Lepidocephalichthys from the Lake Indawgyi Basin of Kachin State, Myanmar.

The new species is named Lepidocephalichthys eleios, meaning 'dwelling in the marsh'. These are elongate Fish reaching an adult size of 18.1–22.8 mm, and are yellowish grey in colour with darker grey and black markings. The species was found in areas with deep water and slow currents, dense vegetation and including shore plants, floating vegetation and vegetable debris on the floor of the lake.

Lepidocephalichthys eleios, from Nam Phaung Sin Chaung (stream) near Nam Phaung Sin village, in Kachin State, Myanmar. Kottelat (2017).

See also...

http://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/nanningocyprinus-wui-carp-loke-fish.htmlhttp://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/devario-fangae-devario-myitkyinae-two.html
http://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/garra-lorestanensis-new-species-of.htmlhttp://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/cobitis-nanningensis-fossil-loach-from.html
http://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/a-trematode-flatworm-from-intestines-of.htmlhttp://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/a-new-species-of-river-loach-from.html
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