Madhava's stream loach

📖 Overview

Inhabits a small stream about 2 m wide, flowing through sparsely-inhabited tea plantations, at an elevation of about 1000 m above sea level and with substrate consisting of pebbles and gravel. Prefers the faster-flowing areas of the stream. Occurs syntopically with the cyprinids Devario malabaricus (Jerdon), Puntius titteya (Deraniyagala), Pethia nigrofasciata (Günther), Rasbora dandia (Valenciennes), Rasboroides rohani (Batuwita, Silva & Edirisinghe), and the osphronemid Belontia signata (Günther). The introduced guppy Poecilia reticulata Peters was also recorded from this stream .

🔬 Taxonomy

🐟 Physical Description

Dorsal soft rays (total): 11; Anal soft rays: 8. Schistura madhavai differs from all its congeners from peninsular India and Sri Lanka by the combination of the following characters: 8-9 wide post-dorsal bars separated by narrow, white interspaces ¼-? the width of the bars; black bar at the base of the caudal fin arched, its posterior margin vaguely indented at bases of branched caudal-fin rays 3 and 14, wider than the interspaces on the body; 8+8 branched rays on emarginate caudal fin; incomplete lateral line ending beneath the dorsal-fin base; axillary pelvic lobe absent; adpressed pelvic fin just reaching the anus; 7½ branched rays on dorsal fin; pelvic-fin origin on a vertical through the last unbranched dorsal fin ray; and suborbital flap in males absent .: elongated.

🌀 Behaviour

Behavioural data for Madhava's stream loach is currently being reviewed.

🦐 Diet

🥚 Reproduction

🌍 Habitat & Distribution

Freshwater; demersal. Tropical

🌿 Ecology

📐 Morphometrics

🌡️ Water Parameters & Tolerance

🛡️ Conservation Assessment

📊 Population Risk & Fisheries

🐠 Related Species

🔍 Similar Species

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