Two new loaches from the Schistura genus have been described from the Western Ghats in India.
The loaches, which are members of the balitorid subfamily Nemacheilinae, have just been named Schistura nagodiensis and S. sharavathiensis in a paper in the latest issue of the Zoos' Print Journal.
The fishes were found in the Sharavathi River in the central Western Ghats region during a 36-month long study aimed at looking at the areas ichthyological diversity over all of the seasons.
Schistura sharavathiensisSchistura sharavathiensis, which is named after the Sharavathi river, was found near Karnataka and appears to be a small species, with most of the type specimens measuring around 3cm in length.
The loach has 16-18 dark brown bars (which are narrower than the interspaces) on a pale beige background, with yellow orange fins, greatly elongated nasal barbels and a black spot on the bottom quarter of the first rays of the dorsal. There's also a dark vertical line on the caudal peduncle.
Schistura nagodiensisThe second of the new species, Schistura nagodiensis, was found in the Nagodi River, a tributary of the Sharavathi River in the central Western Ghats.
This species has 6-9 broader black bars on the body, a deeply emarginate or slightly forked caudal fin and two distinctive black markings on the lower lip.
Other speciesThe Western Ghats of India is home to at least six other Schistura including: S. semiarmatus, S. denisoni denisoni, S. nilgiriensis, S. kodaguensis, S. denisoni mukambbikaensis and S. denisoni pambaensis.
The Schistura genus is the largest and most widely distributed in the Nemacheiline subfamily and its representatives are normally found in hillstreams and waterfalls.
There are currently around 167 other species in the genus Schistura. You can view the distributions of some of these species using the Practical Fishkeeping Fish Mapper.
Schistura acuticephalus
Schistura afasciata
Schistura alepidota
Schistura alta
Schistura alticrista
Schistura altipedunculatus
Schistura amplizona
Schistura anambarensis
Schistura antennata
Schistura aramis
Schistura arifi
Schistura athos
Schistura atra
Schistura bachmaensis
Schistura bairdi
Schistura balteata
Schistura bampurensis
Schistura beavani
Schistura bella
Schistura bolavenensis
Schistura breviceps
Schistura bucculenta
Schistura callichromus
Schistura carbonaria
Schistura cataracta
Schistura caudofurca
Schistura chapaensis
Schistura chindwinicus
Schistura chrysicristinae
Schistura cincticauda
Schistura clatrata
Schistura conirostris
Schistura corica
Schistura coruscans
Schistura crabro
Schistura cristata
Schistura curtistigma
Schistura dabryi
Schistura dalatensis
Schistura daubentoni
Schistura dayi
Schistura deansmarti
Schistura defectiva
Schistura deignani
Schistura denisoni
Schistura desmotes
Schistura dorsizona
Schistura dubia
Schistura ephelis
Schistura fascimaculata
Schistura fasciolata
Schistura finis
Schistura fowleriana
Schistura fusinotata
Schistura geisleri
Schistura globiceps
Schistura harnaiensis
Schistura hingi
Schistura horai
Schistura humilis
Schistura huongensis
Schistura imitator
Schistura implicata
Schistura incerta
Schistura irregularis
Schistura isostigma
Schistura jarutanini
Schistura kaysonei
Schistura kengtungensis
Schistura kessleri
Schistura khamtanhi
Schistura khugae
Schistura kloetzliae
Schistura kohatensis
Schistura kohchangensis
Schistura kongphengi
Schistura kontumensis
Schistura latidens
Schistura latifasciata
Schistura lepidocaulis
Schistura leukensis
Schistura lindbergi
Schistura longa
Schistura machensis
Schistura macrocephalus
Schistura macrolepis
Schistura macrotaenia
Schistura maculiceps
Schistura maepaiensis
Schistura magnifluvis
Schistura mahnerti
Schistura malaisei
Schistura manipurensis
Schistura melarancia
Schistura menanensis
Schistura microlabra
Schistura moeiensis
Schistura montana
Schistura multifasciatus
Schistura nagaensis
Schistura nalbanti
Schistura namboensis
Schistura namiri
Schistura nandingensis
Schistura naseeri
Schistura nasifilis
Schistura nicholsi
Schistura nielseni
Schistura nomi
Schistura notostigma
Schistura novemradiata
Schistura nudidorsum
Schistura obeini
Schistura oedipus
Schistura orthocauda
Schistura pakistanica
Schistura paucicincta
Schistura paucifasciata
Schistura personata
Schistura pertica
Schistura pervagata
Schistura poculi
Schistura porthos
Schistura prashadi
Schistura prashari
Schistura pridii
Schistura procera
Schistura pseudofasciolata
Schistura psittacula
Schistura punctifasciata
Schistura punjabensis
Schistura quaesita
Schistura quasimodo
Schistura rara
Schistura reidi
Schistura rendahli
Schistura reticulata
Schistura rikiki
Schistura robertsi
Schistura russa
Schistura sargadensis
Schistura schultzi
Schistura sertata
Schistura sexcauda
Schistura shadiwalensis
Schistura sigillata
Schistura sijuensis
Schistura sikmaiensis
Schistura similis
Schistura sokolovi
Schistura sombooni
Schistura spekuli
Schistura spiesi
Schistura spiloptera
Schistura spilota
Schistura suber
Schistura susannae
Schistura tenura
Schistura thanho
Schistura tirapensis
Schistura tizardi
Schistura tubulinaris
Schistura vinciguerrae
Schistura waltoni
Schistura xhatensis
Schistura yersini
Schistura zonata
For more information on the new loaches see the paper: Sreekantha, Gururaja, Remadevi, Indra and Ramachandra (2006) - Two new fish species of the genus Schistura McClelland (Cypriniformes: Balitoridae) from Western Ghats, India.