''Liobagrus aequilabris'' is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
catfish
Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...
in the family
Amblycipitidae
The Amblycipitidae are a family of catfishes, commonly known as torrent catfishes. It includes three genus, genera, ''Amblyceps'', ''Liobagrus'', and ''Xiurenbagrus'', and about 36 species.
Taxonomy
The family Amblycipitidae is a monophyly, mono ...
(the torrent catfishes). This species is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, where it is only known from the
Xiang River
The Xiang River is the chief river of the Lake Dongting drainage system of the middle Yangtze, the largest river in Hunan Province, China. It is the 2nd largest tributary (after Min River) in terms of surface runoff, the 5th largest tributar ...
, a tributary of the
Yangtze River
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...
, in
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
province, but may also be present in the
Li River
The Li River or Li Jiang () is the name for the upper reaches of the Gui River in northwestern Guangxi, China. It is part of the Xijiang River system in the Pearl River Basin. The river flows from Xing'an County to Pingle County, where the ka ...
, a tributary of the
Pearl River, due to the presence of the
Lingqu Canal
The Lingqu () is a canal in Xing'an County, near Guilin, in the northwestern corner of Guangxi, China. It connects the Xiang River (which flows north into the Yangtze) with the Li River (Guangxi), Li River (which flows south into the Gui River ...
connecting the Xiang and Li Rivers.
''L. aequilabris'' reaches a length of
SL.
It differs from other members of its genus in lacking large, retrorse serrations on the posterior edge of the
pectoral-fin spine, having upper and lower jaws of equal length, relatively long
dorsal (7.5-10.2 % of SL) and
pectoral-fin (9.1-12.1 % of SL) spines, a relatively long
caudal fin
Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...
(20.1-26.9 % of SL), and relatively few post-
Weberian
Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas prof ...
vertebrae (35-37).
References
Liobagrus
Endemic fauna of Guangxi
Freshwater fish of China
Catfish of Asia
Fish described in 2008
{{catfish-stub