Lepidocephalichthys hasselti is a species of cobitid loach native to southeastern Asia and western Indonesia. This species reaches a length of TL.
Named in honor of Dutch physician and biologist Johan Coenraad van Hasselt (1797-1823), who while exploring the colonial Dutch East Indies in 1820 provided an illustration of this species. Hasselt traveled with his friend Heinrich Kuhl.
Diagnosis According to Kottelat & Lim 1992, L. hasselti is distinguished from other described species of Lepidocephalichthys in Southeast Asia in usually having an ocellated black spot centered at base of branched caudal rays 3–4; or it replaced by black or darker area. Its size is up to SL; body with a median longitudinal stripe or a row of adjacent black spots, with an unpigmented stripe above it, back marmorated, finely spotted or blotched. Caudal fin with series (usually 3–6) of vertical bars; dorsal origin above posterior extremity of pelvic base.
Range and conservation status It has a widespread distribution: Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Yunnan; southward through Peninsular Malaysia to western Indonesia (Sumatra, Borneo and Java). IUCN listed it as LC (Least Concern).
Footnotes
External links
FIMSEA (Fish of Mainland Southeast Asia): Lepidocephalichthys hasselti (CYPRINIFORMES: Cobitidae). Photos of specimens: IFREDI-P00855, IFREDI-P02600, IFREDI-P03039, IFREDI-P03191.