Acanthocobitis botia (Hamilton, 1822)

Dam, Debashree & Kumar, Anil, 2018, Fish Fauna of D’ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary and adjacent areas, Arunachal Pradesh, India, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 118 (2), pp. 162-162 : 162-

11. Acanthocobitis botia (Hamilton, 1822)

1822. Cobitis botia . Hamilton Fish, Ganges, pp350, 394 (Type Locality: Rivers of North Eastern parts of Bengal)

Common Name: Mottled Loach

Material examined: 02 Exs. (Regd No.V/APFS/P-507) Anchal Ghat, DWS, 13.02.09.

Distribution within NE: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura. Distribution within

Arunachal Pradesh: All major drainages of Arunachal Pradesh

Special remarks: It is normally found in clear water, swift flowing streams with rocky pebbly and sandy bottom. However in the present study it was collected from a slow clear flowing secondary stream of Siang River.This species can be easily identified by the presence of a black ocellus at upper margin of the caudal fin and also presence of 3-4 ‘>’ shaped dark bars in the caudal fin. It can be considered an important ornamental species owing to its beautiful coloration.