Loaches

So I was doing some searching today online and came across this fishbase.org site:
www.fishbase.se/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=54728

Any one every come across this species? How do they compare to other Cobitis species? While working at the Ichthyology department at Harvard University a few summers back, I remember looking at jars upon jars of Cobitis sp. specimens. Some remind me of the one in the photo in the above link. How can you distinguish between Serpenticobitis and Cobitis?
Any thoughts, ideas, etc.

Mike

Botiid Loaches are fish that have intrigued me for some time. Relatively recently, all fish that were previously referred to as Botias were distributed amongst various genera such as Botia, Chromobotia (only for the Clown Loach), Syncrossus, Yasuhikotakia and Sinibotia.
   
      Now, it is interesting to note that the fish that used to be known as Botia sidthimunki was re-assigned to the genus Yasuhikotakia, and so its name was changed to Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki. However, genetic evidence and phylogenetic analysis has shown that Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki is actually more closely related to the genus Sinibotia. A re-evaluation of this fish would probably make its latin name be changed to Sinibotia sidthimunki. That's all fine and dandy. BUT.....shouldn't all other Botiid species also be subjected to such scrutiny???

    I believe that if genetic testing is conducted on all members of Botiid fish, that further re-assignment of genera will ensue to various species. I still do not fully comprehend how the Chromobotia macracantha got its genus name. Chromobotia? Why have a genus for a single fish? Before the days of genetic analysis, other morphological data and techniques were used to classify fish into a given genus. I for one am not a fan of this re-classification although I know that many people are. Keeping this group of fish under the genus Botia made life much easier for anyone. I do not see who benefits from all these reclassifications.

Can someone tell me why reclassification is so neccessary? And I do not mean to single out Botiids, many other fish (and their human owners) have been subjected to this shuffling of latin/scientific names.

Just thoughts,

MJO

Hi all,

It is my hope that this blog will serve the Loach-loving community well! I have created this blog due to some free time I have on my hands this summer, before I go on to graduate school at Tufts University in Boston, MA. I have loved Loaches (especially Botiid fish) since childhood and have studied them for many years. I have been a regular contributor to Loaches Online (www.loaches.com) for approximately 10 years (since I was 12!).

I would like this blog is to address certain topics in the Loach-loving world such as new species, taxonomical issues, behavioral observations, morphology, etc. Of course caring for Loaches properly will be addressed.

That's it for now I think. I hope you enjoy this blog and all it has to offer.

Sincerely,

Michael Ophir