View source for Cobitidae

{{Short description|Family of fishes}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Cobitis biwae(Hamamatsu,Shizuoka,Japan,2007).jpg
| image_caption = ''[[Cobitis biwae]]''
| image2 = Cobitis paludica 01 by-dpc.jpg
| image2_caption = ''Cobitis paludica''
| taxon = Cobitidae
| authority = [[William Swainson|Swainson]], 1838<ref name = VDLEF>{{cite journal | author1 = Richard van der Laan | author2 = William N. Eschmeyer | author3 = Ronald Fricke | name-list-style = amp |year=2014 | title = Family-group names of recent fishes | url = https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3882.1.1/10480 | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 3882 | issue = 2 | pages = 1–230| doi = 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 | pmid = 25543675 | doi-access = free }}</ref>
| subdivision_ranks = [[Genus|Genera]]
| subdivision = see text
| type_species = ''[[Cobitis taenia]]''
| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758
}}
'''Cobitidae''', also known as the '''true loaches''', is a [[family (biology)|family]] of [[Old World]] [[freshwater]] [[fish]]. They occur throughout [[Eurasia]] and in [[Morocco]], and inhabit [[riverine]] ecosystems. Today, most "[[loach (fish)|loaches]]" are placed in other families (see [[#Systematics|below]]). The family includes about 260 described [[species]]. New species are being described regularly.<ref>{{FishBase family | family = Cobitidae | month = October | year = 2015 }}</ref><ref name=Nelson/><ref name=Perdices2016>Perdices, A., Bohlen, J., Šlechtová, V. & Doadrio, I. (2016): Molecular Evidence for Multiple Origins of the European Spined Loaches (Teleostei, Cobitidae). ''PLoS ONE, 11 (1): e0144628.''</ref>

==Description and ecology==
The body forms of the Cobitidae tend to be [[vermiform]] &ndash; worm-shaped, long and thin. Most true loaches do not have true [[scale (zoology)|scale]]s, and like many other [[Cypriniformes]] or [[catfish]]es, they have [[barbel (anatomy)|barbel]]s at their mouths (usually three to six pairs). Some other traits typically found in this family are a small bottom-facing mouth suited to their scavenging [[benthic]] lifestyle, an erectile [[spine (zoology)|spine]] below the eye, and a single row of [[pharyngeal teeth|pharyngeal (throat) teeth]].

True loaches are mostly [[scavenger]]s and are omnivorous, usually not very picky about their food. They may eat aquatic [[crustacean]]s, [[insect]]s, and other small [[invertebrate]]s, as well as scraps of organic [[detritus]]. Many live in [[eutrophic]] waters of generally poor quality and feed on [[Tubifex tubifex|tubifex worms]] and similar [[benthos]] associated with such habitat. Some of these loaches have adapted to low oxygen levels in warm, muddy rivers or dirty ponds by being able to gulp up [[atmospheric]] [[oxygen]]. Some species, particularly from the [[genera]] ''[[Cobitis]]'' and especially ''[[Misgurnus]]'', are sensitive to changing [[air pressure]]. They change their behavior accordingly, and as these changes in activity are usually followed by a change in weather, they are commonly known as "weather fishes" or "weather loaches".

Some Cobitidae have been [[introduced species|introduced]] to foreign lands, where they may pose problems to local wildlife as [[invasive species]].<ref>[http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=1537 ''Misgurnus anguillicaudatus'' (fish)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527044343/http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=1537|date=2015-05-27}} [[ISSG]] Global Invasive Species Database</ref> Other true loaches, many of them [[migratory fish]], have been seriously affected by [[habitat destruction]], chemical [[pollution]], and [[damming]], and are considered [[threatened species]] today. Some migratory species are popular [[aquarium]] fish and since they are very hard to raise in captivity, [[overfishing]] has seriously depleted once-common stocks in several cases.

==Systematics==
The other "[[loach (fish)|loaches]]" used to be included in this family, but nowadays are recognized as well-distinct members of the [[order (biology)|order]] [[Cypriniformes]]. Together with the [[Catostomidae|sucker]]s (Catostomidae), the "loaches" made up the [[Taxonomic rank|superfamily]] Cobitoidea. However, the [[sucking loach]]es (Gyrinocheilidae) were easily recognizable as relatives of the suckers.<ref name=Nelson>Nelson, J.S. (2006): ''[[Fishes of the World]]''. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. {{ISBN|0-471-25031-7}}</ref>

Eventually, the [[hillstream loach]]es, though more similar to the true loaches than the other two presumed Cobitoidea, were recognized as distinct enough to be better regarded a family in their own right - [[Balitoridae]]. And as it seems the "sucking Cobitoidea" are quite distant indeed, perhaps even markedly closer to the [[Cyprinidae]], thus the old superfamily Catostomoidea warrants revalidation. Finally, the puzzling [[mountain carp]]s were most often considered the distinct family Psilorhynchidae in recent times. In a number of systematic schemes, though, they were placed in the Balitoridae (or Balitorinae, when these were included in the Cobitidae). In fact, they seem to be loach-like [[carp]]s and belong in the [[Cyprinidae]].<ref name = heetal2008>{{cite journal |author1=He S.-P. |author2=Gub X. |author3=Mayden R.L. |author4=Chen W.-J. |author5=Conway K.W. |author6=Chen Y.-Y. |year=2008 |title=Phylogenetic position of the enigmatic genus ''Psilorhynchus'' (Ostariophysi: Cypriniformes): Evidence from the mitochondrial genome |url=http://ir.ihb.ac.cn/handle/152342/8146 |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=419–425 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2007.10.012 |pmid=18053751 |bibcode=2008MolPE..47..419H |access-date=2019-12-11 |archive-date=2021-02-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225165042/http://ir.ihb.ac.cn/handle/152342/8146 |url-status=dead |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In 2012, [[Maurice Kottelat]] reviewed the loaches and elevated the former subfamily Botiinae to its own family, [[Botiidae]], and established the family [[Serpenticobitidae]] for the genus ''[[Serpenticobitis]]''.<ref name=Kottelat2012>{{cite journal|author=Kottelat M |year=2012 |title=Conspectus cobitidum: an inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei) |url=http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/s26/Conspectus_cobitidum.pdf |journal=The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology |volume=Suppl. 26 |pages=1–199 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130211134858/http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/s26/Conspectus_cobitidum.pdf |archive-date=2013-02-11 }}</ref>
[[Image:Misgurnus fossilis Denmark.png|thumb|right|''Misgurnus fossilis'']]
[[Image:Somileptus gongota Day.png|thumb|right|''Canthophrys gongota'']]

==Genera==
Cobitidae has the following genera classified within it:<ref name = CofF>{{Cof family|family=Cobitidae|access-date=27 November 2024}}</ref>
{{Linked genus list
| Acanthopsoides | [[Henry Weed Fowler|Fowler]], 1934
| Acantopsis | [[Johan Conrad van Hasselt|van Hasselt]], 1823
| Bibarba | [[Yongxia Chen|Y.-X. Chen]] & [[Yifeng Chen|Y.-F. Chen]] 2007
| Canthophrys | [[William Swainson|Swainson]], 1838
| Cobitis | [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758
| Koreocobitis | [[Kim, I.-S.|Kim]], [[J.-Y. Park|Park]] & [[Teodor T. Nalbant|Nalbant]], 1997
| Kottelatlimia | Nalbant, 1994
| Lepidocephalichthys | [[Pieter Bleeker|Bleeker]], 1863
| Lepidocephalus | Bleeker, 1858
| Microcobitis | [[Jörg Bohlen|Bohlen]] & [[Radovan Harant|Harant]], 2011
| Misgurnus | [[Bernard Germain de Lacépède|Lacepède]], 1803
| Neoeucirrhichthys | [[Petre Mihai Bănărescu|Bănărescu]] & Nalbant, 1968
| Pangio | [[Edward Blyth|Blyth]], 1860
| Paralepidocephalus | [[T.-L. Tchang|Tchang]], 1935
| Protocobitis | [[J.-X. Yang|Yang]] & [[Y.-R. Chen]], 1993
| Quintabarbates | [[Tyson R. Roberts|T. R. Roberts]], 2020
| Sabanejewia | [[Vadim Dmitrij Vladykov|Vladykov]], 1929 
| Theriodes | [[Maurice Kottelat|Kottelat]], 2012
}}

==Use by humans==
Some true loaches are popular as [[food fish]] in [[East Asia]]n countries such as [[Japan]]. These are of importance in the [[fisheries]] or being raised in [[aquaculture]]. Small species may occasionally be caught for [[bait (luring substance)|bait]].

===As aquarium fish===
[[Image:Acanthophtalamus khuli.jpg|thumb|right|''Pangio kuhlii'']]
Many of the more brightly colored species are popular with [[freshwater]] [[aquarium|aquarists]], so are therefore of importance in the [[aquarium]] trade. Some Cobitidae often encountered in aquarium trade include:
* [[Dojo loach]], ''Misgurnus anguillicaudatus''
* [[Horseface loach]], ''Acantopsis choirorhynchus''
* [[Kuhli loach]], ''Pangio kuhlii''
* [[Pangio myersi|Myer's loach]], Pangio myersi

==See also==
*[[List of fish families]]

==References==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikispecies}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q266302}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cobitidae| ]]
[[Category:Fish of Europe]]
[[Category:Fish of Asia]]
[[Category:Cypriniformes families]]