Pangio is a genus of small Asian freshwater fish in the true loach family Cobitidae. In earlier taxonomic schemes it was known as Acanthophthalmus. The "kuhli loach" is well-known in the aquarium trade and commonly identified as P. kuhlii, but most individuals actually appear to be P. semicincta.
The type species is Cobitis cinnamomea McClelland 1839, now known as Pangio pangia.
These fish are best represented in Southeast Asia where all but five of the species live, including the Greater Sunda Islands with sixteen species. The five species found outside Southeast Asia are from India and Myanmar. They inhabit a wide range of mostly calm waters such as streams, swamps (often peat swamps) and backwaters, but there are also species in fast-flowing waters, and one, P. bhujia, lives underground.
Species
There are currently 35 recognized species in this genus:
Pangio agma (M. E. Burridge, 1992) Pangio alcoides Kottelat & K. K. P. Lim, 1993 Pangio alternans Kottelat & K. K. P. Lim, 1993 Pangio ammophila Britz, Anvar Ali & Raghavan, 2012 Pangio anguillaris (Vaillant, 1902) Pangio apoda Britz & Maclaine, 2007 Pangio atactos H. H. Tan & Kottelat, 2009 Pangio bhujia Anoop et al., 2019 Pangio bitaimac H. H. Tan & Kottelat, 2009 Pangio cuneovirgata (Raut, 1957) Pangio doriae (Perugia, 1892) Pangio elongata Britz & Maclaine, 2007 Pangio filinaris Kottelat & K. K. P. Lim, 1993 Pangio fusca (Blyth, 1860) Pangio goaensis (Tilak, 1972) (Indian coolie-loach) Pangio incognito Kottelat & K. K. P. Lim, 1993 Pangio kuhlii (Valenciennes, 1846) (Kuhli loach, coolie loach) Pangio juhuae (Sreenath K R,Aju K. Raju,Sandhya Sukumaran,Pradeep . B, 2025) Pangio lidi Hadiaty & Kottelat, 2009 Pangio longimanus Britz & Kottelat, 2010 Pangio longipinnis (Menon, 1992) Pangio lumbriciformis Britz & Maclaine, 2007 Pangio malayana (Tweedie, 1956) Pangio mariarum (Inger & P. K. Chin, 1962) Pangio muraeniformis (de Beaufort, 1933) Pangio myersi (Harry, 1949) Pangio oblonga (Valenciennes, 1846) (Java loach) Pangio pangia (F. Hamilton, 1822) Pangio pathala Sundar, Arjun, Sidharthan, Dahanukar & Raghavan, 2022 Pangio piperata Kottelat & K. K. P. Lim, 1993 Pangio pulla Kottelat & K. K. P. Lim, 1993 Pangio robiginosa (Raut, 1957) Pangio semicincta (Fraser-Brunner, 1940) Pangio shelfordii (Popta, 1903) (Borneo loach) Pangio signicauda Britz & Maclaine, 2007 Pangio superba (T. R. Roberts, 1989)
References
Kottelat, M. (2012): Conspectus cobitidum: an inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Suppl. No. 26: 1-199.