The yoyo loach, Almora loach or Pakistani loach (''Botia almorhae'') is a freshwater

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 ...

belonging to the loach

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Botiidae Botiidae is a family of cypriniform ray-finned fishes from South, Southeast, and East Asia. Until recently they were placed in the true loach family Cobitidae, until Maurice Kottelat revised the loaches and re-elevated this taxon to family rank ...

. It originates in the slow-running and still waters of the

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

basin in northern India and possibly

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

.SeriouslyFish:
Botia almorhae.
' Retrieved 15 July 2014.Grant, S. (2007). ''Fishes of the genus Botia Gray, 1831, in the Indian region (Teleostei: Botiidae).'' Ichthyofile 2: 1-106 Despite the alternative common name Pakistani loach, the true ''B. almorhae'' is not known from Pakistan (the species in this country is '' B. birdi''). It may attain a length of , and is named for its dark and pale patterns, which often can be seen to spell "yoyo" (especially in smaller/younger specimens), hence the common name yoyo loach. The final common name, Almora loach, refers to

Almora Almora ( Kumaoni: ''Almāḍ'') is a municipal board and a cantonment town in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Almora district. Almora is located on a ridge at the southern edge of the Kumaon Hills of the ...

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

, India. Specimens labelled as ''B. almorhae'' are commonly found in the

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 ...

trade, but most (if not all) of these appear to be the closely related '' B. lohachata'', two possibly

undescribed species In taxonomy, an undescribed taxon is a taxon (for example, a species) that has been discovered, but not yet formally described and named. The various Nomenclature Codes specify the requirements for a new taxon to be validly described and named. U ...

popularly referred to as ''B. sp.'' "Kosi" and ''B. sp.'' "Teesta", or hybrids.

References

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1802036 Botiidae Fish of India Fish described in 1831 Taxa named by John Edward Gray

See also

References