The Burmese Border loach, angelicus loach or polka dot loach, ''Botia kubotai'', is a recently described species that has quickly become a popular

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

for

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

s. In 2002, fish collectors working in western

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

began to expand their search into

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

(

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

) area from the

Three Pagodas Pass Three Pagodas Pass ( Phlone ; my, ဘုရားသုံးဆူ တောင်ကြားလမ်း, ''Paya Thon Zu Taung Za Lang'', ; th, ด่านเจดีย์สามองค์, , ) is a pass in the Tenasserim Hills on the ...

Thai-Myanmar border to look for new fish for the aquarium trade. This is one of several species discovered and explains the origin of the fish's common name: Burmese Border Loach. Its specific epithet honors Katsuma Kubota of an aquarium export company in Thailand who first purchased the catch and sent them out for identification.

Habitat and appearance

The fish, a

bottom feeder A bottom feeder is an aquatic animal that feeds on or near the bottom of a body of water. Biologists often use the terms ''benthos''—particularly for invertebrates such as shellfish, crabs, crayfish, sea anemones, starfish, snails, bri ...

, is found in the

Salween River , ''Mae Nam Salawin'' ( , name_etymology = , image = Sweet_View_of_Salween_River_in_Tang_Yan_Township,_Shan_State,_Myanmar.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Salween River in Shan State, Myanmar , map ...

system which is mostly in Myanmar. It was first discovered in

Ataran River Ataran River is a river of Burma (most of its course) and Thailand (the uppermost part). In Thailand, it is usually known as the Kasat River. It merges into the larger Gyaing River and Salween River near the city of Mawlamyine. A main tributary of ...

(known in Thailand as Kasat River), a tributary of Salween River. A population in Thailand was discovered in early 2006 in another tributary of Salween River, Suriya River in

Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary The Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary ( th, เขตรักษาพันธุ์สัตว์ป่าทุ่งใหญ่นเรศวร, ) is a protected area in Thailand in the northern part of Kanchanaburi Province and the ...

.Nonn Panitvong, ''การผจญภัยสุดขอบชายแดน ที่แม่น้ำสุริยะ'' ''(Adventure to the Extreme Border at Suriya River)'', Aqua Vol. 4 No. 43, 15 April - 15 May 2006 It grows as large as 15 cm in length, but most tend to be smaller at around 10 cm. It has gold, black, and grey colors arranged in a pattern that varies greatly depending on the age of the fish. Juvenile fish at about 2.5 cm are very similar to ''

Botia histrionica ''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'', see References b ...

''. It has yellow body with only black vertical bands. Typically around this size grey dots on the black bands together with a middle horizontal bar joining the bands begin to appear. At about 5 cm, the top and bottom part of the vertical bands start to merge, producing a pattern of big yellow ovals along the body. More grey dots continue to appear as fish grows.

In aquarium

This fish, like most other loach species, should be kept in groups when placed in an aquarium. Suitable water parameters are 25 - 30 °C, pH 6.5 to 6.9, dGH 0 to 8.0. Many hiding places should also be provided. Newly purchased, it is a good idea to treat them for internal

parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

s, a very common problem for wild-caught bottom feeder fishes. ''Botia kubotai'' is omnivorous and will accept most food types offered to freshwater fish including snails, small shrimp, sinking pellets, blood worms, and black worms.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1766655 Botiidae Fish of Southeast Asia Fish of Myanmar Fish of Thailand Taxa named by Maurice Kottelat Fish described in 2004

Habitat and appearance

In aquarium

See also

References

External links