Category: Botia Loaches guide

Botia (Indian loaches) is a genus of freshwater fish in the loach family (Botiidae). It was a large genus with about 20 species. In 2004 Maurice Kottelat proposed in his paper (along with the description of Botia kubotai,  to divide the genus into four related genera based on fish appearance and locality:

• Botia for Indian loaches (shorter body).
• Chromobotia for clown loach.
• Syncrossus for tiger loaches (elongated body).
• Yasuhikotakia for Mekong loaches (shorter body).

Another genus, Parabotia, was considered a separate genus earlier. It has an elongated body quite similar to Syncrossus, but with its range mostly restricted to China. With all these as separate genera, Botia species are restricted to South Asia (including Burma).