The large-scale loach (''Paramisgurnus dabryanus'') is a species of true loach that is native to

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, and the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...

. It can be found in water bodies such as the Yangtze Basin,

Pearl River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-a ...

, Amur River, and various other drainages. There are several known invasive populations in places such as

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, the

San Joaquin River The San Joaquin River (; es, Río San Joaquín) is the longest river of Central California. The long river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through the rich agricultural region of the northern San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suis ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and the majority of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The large-scale loach is typically brown, grey, or golden in color with mottled or speckled black dots, which leads to it sometimes called a "peppered loach" when sold at pet stores (though it is more often misidentified as the

pond loach The pond loach (''Misgurnus anguillicaudatus''), also known as the Dojo loach or oriental weatherfish, is a freshwater fish in the loach family Cobitidae. They are native to East Asia but are also popular as an aquarium fish and introduced else ...

instead). It is a small loach, growing between 7.3 to 15.4 cm (2.9 to 6.1 in) TL. The diet and behaviors of the large-scaled loach are just about the same as other true loaches. This loach is an

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutri ...

scavenging Scavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a herbivorous feeding ...

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, bristlewo ...

, and is equipped with three pairs of

barbels In fish anatomy and turtle anatomy, a barbel is a slender, whiskerlike sensory organ near the mouth. Fish that have barbels include the catfish, the carp, the goatfish, the hagfish, the sturgeon, the zebrafish, the black dragonfish and some s ...

used to detect edible items. They are able to breathe atmospheric oxygen, which allows it to survive in poor quality water or even on land for extended periods of time. Females develop eggs over the winter and reproduction occurs during the spring. The male wraps around the female in order to fertilize the eggs, which are laid in cover such as aquatic vegetation with no further parental care provided. The large-scale loach looks very similar to another species of true loach, the

(''Misgurnus anguillicaudatus''), so it is possible that invasive populations of the pond loach might actually consist either partially or entirely of large-scale loaches. The large-scale loach can be told apart from the pond loach by the presence of higher

adipose Adipose tissue, body fat, or simply fat is a loose connective tissue composed mostly of adipocytes. In addition to adipocytes, adipose tissue contains the stromal vascular fraction (SVF) of cells including preadipocytes, fibroblasts, vascular ...

crests on the caudal peduncle, a thinner lamina circularis (enlarged bony scale at the base of the first and second pectoral fin ray), and the lack of a dark spot near the caudal base in the upper corner on the tail fin. The large-scale loach also grows to a smaller size than the pond loach, which reaches 30 cm (12 in) TL. Both species are able to hybridize together, so identification may be difficult in mixed populations.

References

Cobitidae Monotypic fish genera Freshwater fish of China Fish of Russia Freshwater fish of Taiwan Fish described in 1872 {{Cobitidae-stub