Schistura khamtanhi Kottelat 2000

Body compressed, deep; anterior nostril pierced on front side of a flap; processus dentiformis present; both lips with many deep folds, upper notched, lower with median incision; no notch in lower jaw; dorsal keel on caudal peduncle; lateral line complete; anus midway between pelvic-fin base and anal-fin origin; 10.5 branched dorsal-fin rays; 5.5 branched anal-fin rays; caudal fin emarginate, with 9+8 branched rays; axillary pelvic lobe present; body with 8-10 dark brown bars wider than interspaces, edges darker than middle; bars may all be very regular, or some may be irregular, interrupted or branched, or with a paler spot inside; black bar at caudal-fin base narrow, complete; dorsal fin with broad dark grey basal band, a black spot at base of anterior rays, and a conspicuous subdistal row of black spots; pelvic, anal and caudal fins red-orange in life (Ref. 36949).

Found in fast flowing water, rapids (Ref. 36949).

Schistura khamtanhi is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus most speciose genus in the stone loach family, Schistura. It is found in the Kong River basin in Laos and in the main Mekong river in Cambodia and Laos where it is abundant, being an important quarry species for the fish traps at Kohne Falls. It inhabits rapids and Sony bottomed stretches of the main Mekong and its tributaries and it migrates past the Kohne Falls in January and February annually. It is the only member of the genus Schistura which is known to be migratory. The specific name honours Khamtanh Vatthanatham, a Fisheries Programme Officer of the Mekong River Commission who was very helpful to the Maurice Kottelat during his 1999 survey, in which this species was discovered.