G. notata is one of a number of congeners to lack both a transverse groove and a proboscis on the snout. It also possesses 33-34 lateral line scales and a series of dark spots at the base of the dorsal-fin rays, and lacks scales on the lower portion of the body and abdomen.

The genus Garra is a particularly enigmatic grouping with new taxa…

G. bispinosa can be distinguished from all other congeners in Southeast Asia and China by the following combination of characters: a conspicuous, quadrate, anteriorly-directed proboscis orientated ventrally against the snout and anteriorly adorned with a single, large, uniscupid, acanthoid tubercle on the distal tip of each lobe; snout with a deep groove across its tip to form a transverse lobe; 34-35 lateral…

This species is widely-distributed in the Mekong river system in Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, Salween and Ayeyarwaddy rivers in southern China, Myanmar, and Thailand, plus various smaller basins in Vietnam and China. It has also been recorded from the islands of Hainan and Hong Kong.

Type locality is given as ‘China: sent from Hong Kong’.

Found in various types of habitat but shows a marked preference for shallow, slow-moving and standing waters such as rice paddies and other temporally-inundated environments with dense aquatic vegetation.

E. caudiocellatus can be told apart from congeners by lacking a dark lateral stripe and possessing a prominent dark marking on the caudal peduncle.

In recent years a number of phylogenetic studies involving Esomus and its near relatives have been conducted and conflicting results published. For example a 2003 study by Fang et al. concluded that the genus is the sister group, i.e., most closely-related to…

The anatomical structure of miniaturised cyprinids can vary greatly; there are two putative groups with some species possessing intermediate features to some degree. The first contains those fishes which though small are essentially proportionally dwarfed versions of their larger relatives.

The other includes those in which anatomical development stops at a point where adult still resemble a larval form of their larger ancestor, as in…

Despite being a wholly unsuitable aquarium subject, C. idella is often traded as such, with an albino form having been developed specifically for the ornamental market.

Individuals which have outgrown their aquarium or pond should never be released into natural waters, either, since this species has proven capable of causing serious environmental damage under a wide range of climatic conditions.

We’ve been unable to obtain a diagnosis for this species to date but it can at least be distinguished from those congeners traded as ‘Crossocheilus siamensis’ (an invalid name synonymous with C. oblongus, which is itself of questionable identity), ‘Siamese algae eater’, or ‘SAE’ by the fact that the dark lateral stripe does not extend into the caudal-fin.

Members of Crossocheilus are characterised by…

It is currently the only valid member of the genus but it is possible that additional taxa exist, particularly in Myanmar, while a number of former species are contained within the Laubuka assemblage, to which C. cachius is closely related. Phylogenetic studies suggest the existence of a monophyletic clade consisting of the genera Devario, Chela, Laubuca, Microdevario and Microrasbora plus the genus Betadevario.

Native to continental China, the Korean peninsula, and southern Japan. Type locality is given only as ‘Lakes and rivers, northern China’, with the type series possibly originating from the Pai-ho River near Beijing.

It has been widely introduced and is considered invasive elsewhere, including the Mekong river basin (records from Laos and Thailand), Salween river (Myanmar), northern Japan, Taiwan, Turkmeni…