Loaches Online Forum

in visual differences what make Shistura and Nemacheilus different from one another.
could anyone explain this to me in laymans terms please.

thanks
mick

There are several differences, but one of the quickest and easiest ways to check is with the tail.

The following pic is from Dr Kottelat's Indochinese Nemacheilines book (ISBN 3-923871-47-9) and shows the differences on the tail:



Emma

i see where your coming from Emma, but there are exceptions such as corica's, maepiensis and a few others that the tail shape is more alike to
Nemacheilus, has it got anything to do with the maxilliary barbels lenght and position?.
Kottelot has been proved wrong about naming sp as in the alticrista
where T. Roberts first identified the fish in 1990 which is valid as Shistura.

mick

The issue is a difficult one because there are so many species and some that have combinations of characteristics that cross over. Maurice Kottelat did use the caudal spot position (as in Emma's post) as well as caudal shape, but in combination with other factors.

There are differences in the structure of the lower lip between most species of the genus but some species do not have this.

There is no one size fits all difference, which some would argue makes the use of both genus names wrong, however, splitters (like me) would argue otherwise.

cheers mucker, i think.

mick