Described from Sichuan province, southwestern China (presumably the upper Yangzte River, aka Chang Jiang, drainage) and also known from parts of the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang) basin in Guangxi Autonomous Region. The latter area is one of the most populous and industrialised in China meaning much of the main river channel is now highly polluted. Its relatively wide distribution probably explains why it’s commoner in the aquarium hobby than the similar-looking…

L. elongata is the type species of the genus but according to current knowledge there exist 13 members in total, all of which are endemic to China and northern Vietnam. They’re diagnosable by the following shared characters: possession of a simple (non-bifurcated), short sub-ocular spine not extending beyond the posterior edge of the eye; a laterally-compressed body; relatively deep caudal peduncle; pelvic fins reaching origin of anal-fin; anus below base of dorsal-fin and equidistant between pelvic and anal-fin origins.

Superficially similar to L. tientainensis but according to the formal description can be separated by a combination of characters including: more deeply-forked caudal-fin (shortest central rays fit 2.6-2.9 times in the outer rays vs. 1.7-2.5 times); significantly smaller eye (fits 26 times in head length vs. 10 times); caudal-fin with 1-2 dark bands at lateral edges v…

This species is rare in the aquarium trade, increasingly so in nature and as a result prohibitively expensive when available. Given its adult size and probable longevity this is therefore a species for the specialist possessing the necessary time, money and dedication to house it long term.

Within the nominal species grouping suggested by Grant (2007) almost all B. rostrata sold in the hobby are B. sp. 'upper Brahmaputra' with B. rostrata sensu stricto rarely, if ever, available. Trade names include 'Gangetic loach', 'twin-banded loach' and 'ladder loach'. The defining characters of the group are "Pattern consisiting of 8-10 black to dark brown body bars that exhibit pale and numerous spots in juveniles, and in adults the bars can anast…

Adult patterning of the different geographical forms can vary considerably though young specimens all possess 5 solid dark bars on each flank and are often confused with those species exhibiting a similar juvenile pattern, particularly B. kubotai. However the horizontal dark bars on the flanks in B. kubotai typically split at quite a young age and/or develop horizontally-orientated ‘peaks’ whereas those in B. histrionica remain solid for longer and the central bar usually has a pale spot at the top so forms a ‘y’ shape.

Appears to be endemic to headwaters of the Salween River basin around the border between Myanmar and Thailand. The type specimens were collected from the Megathat Chaung (Megathat stream) in the upper Ataran (known as the Kasat in Thai) River basin, Kayin/Karen State, Myanmar and another population was later discovered in the Hanthayaw River (Suriya in Thai), Tak Province, Thailand.

Known only from the Tanintharyi River drainage in Tanintharyi (previously Tenasserim) Division, southern Myanmar. Tanintharyi lies on the Kra Isthmus and the river bisects the central zone north-to-south before emptying into the Andaman Sea at Mergui/Myeik.

This area is not easy to access for fish collectors due to occasional conflict between the Myanma…

This species is also sold under the vernacular names 'golden Chinese loach' and '12-banded Chinese loach'. Along with S. robusta it's the most commonly-traded member of the genus, and the two are often imported in mixed batches, presumably because they occur and are thus collected together in nature. Like most congeners it has a highly flexible, sinuous body which makes it very interesting to observe.

S. pulchra can be differentiated from…

Described from close to the city of Palembang, therefore presumably the Musi River basin, South Sumatra province, Sumatra, Indonesia, and since recorded from elsewhere on Sumatra plus the Malaysian state of Sarawak and Indonesian province West Kalimantan on Borneo.