This species has been recorded from the Zhujiang (Pearl River), Changjiang (Yangtze River) and Qiantang Jiang in central and southern China.

Type locality is ‘Chang Jiang, China’, referring to the Yangtze.

It’s been adversely affected by dam construction and pollution across certain parts of its range and may be locally extirpated in some cases.

It’s actually sold in the aquarium hobby on a regular basis but almost always labelled as or mixed in with Misgurnus anguillicaudatus and is thus poorly documented.

Although quite simi…

This species is rarely-seen in the trade due to a relative lack of commercial exports from the middle Yangtze basin. It looks very similar to S. pulchra but can be told apart by the fact it lacks irregular, brownish markings and spots on the side of the head (vs. present in S. pulchra), and like most congeners it has a highly flexible, sinuous body which makes it very interesting to observe.

Type locality is the town of Luxian, located north of Luzhou city, Sichuan province, southwest China. Luxian lies on the Laixi River, one of several tributaries converging with the main Yangtze river channel near Luzhou and forming part of the latter’s upper drainage basin. The full extent o…

This species not often seen in the aquarium trade and is apparently rare in its natural waters, with the occasional individual imported as bycatch in shipments of S. pulchra or S. robusta, or by private collectors. Like others in the genus it has a highly flexible, sinuous body which makes it very interesting to observe.

It's told apart from congeners by the following combination of chara…

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…

Should be kept in a set-up designed to resemble a flowing stream with a substrate of variably-sized rocks, gravel and some water-worn boulders. This can be further furnished with driftwood roots and branches arranged to form some shaded spots while lengths of PVC piping or similar can be used to provide additional cover. Although most plant species will fail to thrive in such surroundings hardy genera such as Microsorum, Bolbitis or Anubias spp. can be grown attached to the décor and bright lighting will promote the growth of aufwuchs.

L. taeniops is almost unheard of in the aquarium trade although we know of one or two private collectors maintaining it. It was previously included in the related genus Parabotia.

L. elongata is the type species of the genus but according to current thinking there exi…

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…

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.