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Glyptothorax interspinalum (Mai, 1978)

Image contributors to this species:

Freshwater Fishes of China in Coloured Illustrations (1)

ScotCat Sources:

Other Sources:

Relevant Information:

Description: Body brown to blackish; pale midlateral stripe present but may not always be distinct; pale stripe along dorsal mid-line (not always distinct). Head and body rugose, covered by relatively large tubercles, usually distinct with naked eye, of very heterogeneous sizes. Anal usually without black mark restricted to base. Glyptothorax is distinguished from all other sisorid genera by having an adhesive apparatus on the thorax with with grooves parallel or oblique to the longitudinal axis of the body (vs. thoracic adhesive grooves transverse to the longitudinal axis of the body in Pseudecheneis, and thoracic adhesive apparatus absent in all other genera). Etymology: The specific name interspinalum: inter (L.), between; spinalum (scientific Neo-Latin), spinule, referring to 5–6 spinules between dorsal and adipose fins [sometimes treated as an incorrectly formed adjective and spelled interspinalus].

Common Name:

None

Synonyms:

Glyptosternon interspinalum, Glyptothorax merus

Family:

Sisoridae

Distribution:

Asia: Red River drainage, Vietnam and China. Type locality: Creeks in N. Vietnam.

Size:

10.0cm. (4ins)

Temp:

18-23°c (63-73°f.)

p.H.

6.0-7.0.

IUCN Red List

This species occupies a wide range in rivers of Viet Nam, Laos (PDR), and Yunnan Province, China, and in the absence of any significant threats, it is assessed as Least Concern, (IUCN 2025).

Reference:

Alfred W. Thomson & Lawrence M. Page; 30 October 2006. Genera of the Asian Catfish Families Sisoridae and Erethistidae (Teleostei: Siluriformes) (Zootaxa 1345).
Chu, X. and T. Mo, 1999. Sisoridae. p. 114-181. In X.-L. Chu, B.-S. Cheng and D.-Y. Dai (Eds). Faunica Sinica. Osteichthyes. Siluriformes. Science Press, Beijing. i-vii + 1-230.
Fernando, E. 2025. Glyptothorax interspinalum. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025.
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2011. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version.
Jenkins, A., Kullander, F.F. & Tan, H.H. 2009. Glyptothorax interspinalum. In: IUCN 2012.
The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database © Christopher Scharpf.

Family: Sisoridae Back to Ident-A-Cat Click on Thumbnails

Glyptothorax interspinalum

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