Cryptotora thamicola

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Habitat and Ecology

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	ACTINOPTERYGII	CYPRINIFORMES	BALITORIDAE

Scientific Name:

Cryptotora thamicola

Species Authority:

(Kottelat, 1988)

Common Name/s:

English

–

Waterfall Climbing Cave Fish

Synonym/s:

Homaloptera thamicola Kottelat, 1988

Taxonomic Notes:

Was in the 2002 Red List (and 1996 and 2000) under the generic name of Homaloptera. This species was transferred to the monospecific genus Cryptotora by Maurice Kottelat in November 1998.

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Vulnerable D2 ver 2.3

Year Assessed:

1996

Annotations:

Needs updating

Assessor/s

Kottelat, M.

History:

1996

–

Vulnerable

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This remarkable hypogean fish was first collected in May 1985 in Susa Cave, Mae Hong Son province of Thailand. It may also occur in other submerged caves in the area. These caves are being further explored by the Cave Biology Research Group at New York University and members from this team are also researching the biology of this and other hypogean species found in these underground karst systems.
Countries:	Native: Thailand

Range Description:

This remarkable hypogean fish was first collected in May 1985 in Susa Cave, Mae Hong Son province of Thailand. It may also occur in other submerged caves in the area. These caves are being further explored by the Cave Biology Research Group at New York University and members from this team are also researching the biology of this and other hypogean species found in these underground karst systems.

Countries:

Native:

Thailand

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	It is depigmented and has no visible eyes. This species coexists with another threatened hypogean loach, Schistura oedipus. This coexistence is unusual for cave fish species in the food limited and highly competitive cave environment. Cryptotora thamicola, is specialized for fast flowing water and is so different from other surface loaches in SE Asia that it was assigned its own genus. S. oedipus has become specialized for slower water within the same cave. DNA evidence gathered by the Cave Biology Research Group at New York University suggests that these are the most ancient cave fish lineages in Thailand, having separated from surface fishes 1.0 to 1.5 million years ago.
Systems:	Freshwater

Habitat and Ecology:

It is depigmented and has no visible eyes. This species coexists with another threatened hypogean loach, Schistura oedipus. This coexistence is unusual for cave fish species in the food limited and highly competitive cave environment. Cryptotora thamicola, is specialized for fast flowing water and is so different from other surface loaches in SE Asia that it was assigned its own genus. S. oedipus has become specialized for slower water within the same cave. DNA evidence gathered by the Cave Biology Research Group at New York University suggests that these are the most ancient cave fish lineages in Thailand, having separated from surface fishes 1.0 to 1.5 million years ago.

Systems:

Freshwater

Citation:	Kottelat, M. 1996. Cryptotora thamicola. In: IUCN 2009. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 10 February 2010.
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