Schistura alticrista KOTTELAT, 1990

Etymology

Schistura: from the Greek schizein, meaning ‘to divide’, and oura, meaning ‘tail’, in reference to the caudal-fin shape of many species.

alticrista: from the Latin altus, meaning ‘high’, and crista, meaning ‘crest’, in reference to this species’ pronounced adipose crests.

Classification

Order: Cypriniformes Family: Nemacheilidae

Distribution

Described from the Nam Mae Yuan river basin in Mae Hong Son Province, north west Thailand, a tributary within the Salween drainage.

Full type locality is ‘Amphoe Khum Huan, Tambon Muang Bon, Huei Nong Heng, Mae La Ka, Mae Hong Son Province, Salween basin, Thailand’.

It’s also been recorded from the Salween itself, close to the point where the Nam Mae Yuan empties into it, and may therefore range into Myanmar to an extent.

Habitat

Like most Schistura it’s likely to inhabit riffles and flowing stretches of clear, well-oxygenated headwater streams and smaller tributaries.

Such habitats are usually shaded by forest cover with the substrate composed of coarse sand, gravel, rocks and boulders and without aquatic plants.

Flow rate and turbidity are likely to vary somewhat depending on the time of year and weather conditions.

Maximum Standard Length

70 – 75 mm.

Aquarium SizeTop ↑

Even a small group will need an aquarium with base dimensions of 90 ∗ 30 cm or similar.

Maintenance

Not difficult to maintain under the correct conditions. We strongly recommend keeping it in a tank designed to resemble a flowing stream or river with a substrate of variably-sized rocks, sand, fine gravel, and some water-worn boulders.

This can be further furnished with driftwood branches arranged to form a network of nooks, crannies, and shaded spots, thus providing broken lines of sight.

While the majority of aquatic plants will fail to thrive in such surroundings hardy types such as Microsorum, Bolbitis, or Anubias spp. can be grown attached to the décor.

Once acclimatised individuals tend to select a particular cave or sheltered space which they defend against conspecifics and similar-looking species so it’s important to provide a well-structured environment.

In this kind of set-up it will thrive and can be kept alongside other species that enjoy similar conditions (see ‘Behaviour and Compatibility’).

Though torrent-like conditions are unnecessary it does best if there is a high proportion of dissolved oxygen and some water movement in the tank so power filter(s), additional powerhead(s), or airstone(s) should be employed as necessary.

Like many fishes that naturally inhabit running water it’s intolerant to accumulation of organic pollutants and requires spotless water in order to thrive. Weekly water changes of 30-50% tank volume should therefore be considered routine.

Water Conditions

Temperature: 21 – 26 °C

pH: 6.0 – 7.5

Hardness: 36 – 215 ppm

Diet

Schistura species are omnivorous although the bulk of their diet consists of small insects, worms, crustaceans, and other zooplankton with only relatively small amounts of plant matter and other organic detritus consumed.

In the aquarium they will accept dried foods of a suitable size but should not be fed these exclusively.

Daily meals of small live and frozen fare such as Daphnia, Artemia, bloodworm, etc., will result in the best colouration and condition. In a set-up with moving water they will often shoot up to snatch morsels passing in the flow.

Behaviour and CompatibilityTop ↑

Not especially aggressive compared with some members of the genus but remains largely unsuitable for the general community aquarium due to its somewhat specialised requirements.

This is not to say it must be kept alone, rather that tankmates must be selected with care and proper research.

Slow-moving or long-finned species should certainly be omitted because they’re likely to struggle with the necessary level of water movement and may end up with nipped fins.

Placid bottom-dwellers such as Corydoras or Pangio spp. also tend to be easy targets for territorial Schistura and are best avoided.

Fishes which inhabit similar biotopes in nature, especially those which swim in open water such as Danio, Devario, Mystacoleucus, smaller Barilius, Pethia, Puntius, and Rasbora spp. constitute the best options, and one or two schools can make a visible difference to the confidence of this naturally reclusive loach.

Other possibilities include current-loving loaches from genera such as Pseudogastromyzon, Beaufortia, or Sewellia plus benthic cyprinids such as Crossocheilus and Garra spp.

Similarly-shaped relatives like Nemacheilus, Acanthocobitis, and other Schistura spp. aren’t recommended under most circumstances although a combination may work in larger aquaria.

While it can’t be described as gregarious a group can be maintained together provided the set-up contains plenty of rocky structures and broken lines of sight.

Occasional skirmishes may occur, however, and in small or sparsely-decorated tanks conspecific aggression may escalate to an unacceptable level.

Sexual Dimorphism

Young specimens can be tricky to sex accurately but mature males of Schistura species tend to possess noticeably enlarged ‘cheeks’; this being most obvious when the fish is viewed from above or head-on.

Females should be slightly thicker-bodied, especially when full of eggs.

Reproduction

Unreported.

NotesTop ↑

This species is very rare in the aquarium trade but available on occasion.

It can be told apart from the majority of congeners by possession of conspicuous, vertically-orientated adipose crests on the ventral and dorsal midlines of the caudal peduncle and 9½ branched dorsal-fin rays plus colour pattern comprising 8-9 dark brown bars which are approximately as wide as the paler interspaces.

There is a black bar across the entire caudal-fin base, a black spot at the base of the simple and first branched dorsal-fin rays, and a similar-coloured blotch extending along the base of branched rays 3-9.

It’s closest relatives in the genus appear to be S. disparizona Zhou & Kottelat, 2005 and S. callidora Bohlen and Ŝlechtová, 2011, which also possess a well-developed adipose crest on the dorsal midline of the caudal peduncle and 9½ branched dorsal-fin rays (vs. no or low adipose crest and 7½ or 8½ in most other species of Schistura).

S. disparizona differs from S. alticrista by its colour pattern which consists of 8-11, closely-arranged vertical bars in the anterior portion of the flank with 5 more widely-set bars posteriorly vs. bars and interspaces of equal width on the whole body.

S. callidora also possesses a colour pattern consisting of narrow, densely-set bars in the anterior part of flank and broader bars and interspaces posteriorly, but it lacks an adipose crest on the ventral midline of the caudal peduncle, possesses a prominent incision in the upper lip (vs. small incision in S. alticrista), and has a forked caudal-fin (vs. emarginate).

Schistura is the most species-rich genus among nemacheilid loaches with some 190 members and it continues to grow with over 100 having been described since 1990. It may represent a polyphyletic lineage and is often arranged into a number of loosely-defined species ‘groups’, some of which are quite dissimilar to one another.

Among these are an assemblage in which some or all of the body bars are vertically split and another which exhibit reductions in body size (adult size <50 mm SL), the number of pelvic and pectoral-fin rays and often the number of caudal-fin rays and lateral line length, for example.

Some species, such as S. geisleri, also appear to be unrelated to any of the others.

Most inhabit flowing streams or areas close to waterfalls where there naturally exist high concentrations of dissolved oxygen, and a handful are troglobytic, i.e., cave-dwelling, in existence. The latter have reduced pigmentation and are completely blind in many cases.

Schistura spp. are distinguished from other nemacheilids by a combination of morphological characters which include: a moderately arched mouth which is 2-3.5 times wider than it is long; a median ‘interruption’ in the lower lip which does not form two lateral triangular pads and can vary from smooth to furrowed in texture; diverse colour pattern but usually dark with relatively regular bars; usually a black bar at the caudal-fin base which can be broken into two spots or smaller bars; one or two black markings along the base of the dorsal-fin; lack of acuminate scales on the caudal peduncle; caudal-fin shape variable from truncate to forked but usually emarginate; presence or absence of a median notch in the lower jaw; clear sexual dimorphism in some species.

The family Nemacheilidae is widely-distributed across most of Eurasia with the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and China representing particular centres of species diversity.

References

1. Kottelat, M., 1990 - Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, München: 1-262
   Indochinese nemacheilines. A revision of nemacheiline loaches (Pisces: Cypriniformes) of Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and southern Viet Nam.
2. Akan, F. E., T. T. Nalbant, and S. C. Özeren, 2007 - Journal of Fisheries International 2(1): 69-85
   Seven New Species of Barbatula, Three New Species of Schistura and a New Species of Seminemacheilus (Ostariophysi: Balitoridae: Nemacheilinae) from Turkey.
3. Bohlen, J. and V. Ŝlechtová, 2011 - Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters 22(2): 1-10
   A new genus and two new species of loaches (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae) from Myanmar.
4. Freyhof, J. and D. V. Serov, 2001 - Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters 12(2): 133-191
   Nemacheiline loaches from Central Vietnam with descriptions of a new genus and 14 new species (Cypriniformes: Balitoridae).
5. Kottelat, M., 2012 - Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement 26: 1-199
   Conspectus cobitidum: an inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei).
6. Kottelat, M., 2013 - Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement No. 27: 1-663
   The fishes of the inland waters of southeast Asia: a catalogue and core bibiography of the fishes known to occur in freshwaters, mangroves and estuaries.
7. Tang, Q., H. Liu, R. Mayden, and B. Xiong, 2006 - Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 39(2): 347-357
   Comparison of evolutionary rates in the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b gene and control region and their implications for phylogeny of the Cobitoidea (Teleostei: Cypriniformes).
8. Zhou, W. and M. Kottelat, 2005 - Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement 13: 17-20
   Schistura disparizona, a new species of loach from Salween drainage in Yunnan (Teleostei: Balitoridae).
9. Šlechtová, V., J. Bohlen and H. H. Tan, 2007 - Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 44(3): 1358-1365
   Families of Cobitoidea (Teleostei; Cypriniformes) as revealed from nuclear genetic data and the position of the mysterious genera Barbucca, Psilorhynchus, Serpenticobitis and Vaillantella.