Leptobotia elongata (Bleeker, 1870)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Leptobotia elongata, the imperial flower loach, elongate loach or royal clown loach, is a species of botiid fish found in flowing water in the upper and middle Yangtze basin in China. It is the largest species in the family, reaching up to 50 cm (1.6 ft) in length and 3 kg (6 lb 10 oz) in weight. Formerly common, the numbers of this Vulnerable species have declined because of overfishing, dams (limiting its breeding migration), habitat loss and pollution. The species is bred in captivity and a stocking project has been in place since 2010. It is sometimes kept in aquariums, but require a very large tank.
Adults migrate upstream to spawn between March and May. They have been recorded feeding on fish, shrimp, gammarids, benthic invertebrates, aquatic insect larvae, mollusks, plankton and phytodetritus. The feeding preference depends on size: Individuals less than 11 cm (4.3 in) long mainly take benthic invertebrates and aquatic insect larvae, while larger individuals mainly feed on fish and shrimp.
Wikipedia contributors, Leptobotia elongata; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T23:02:18.553033+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Leptobotia elongata (Bleeker, 1870)
- Name authority
- (Bleeker, 1870)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Cypriniformes
- Family
- Botiidae
- Genus
- Leptobotia
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderCypriniformes
- familyBotiidae Berg, 1940
- subfamilyLeptobotiinae Nalbant, 2002
- genusLeptobotia Bleeker, 1870
- speciesLeptobotia elongata (Bleeker, 1870)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Leptobotia. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Leptobotia hengyangensis Huang & Zhang, 1986 | BotiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Leptobotia microphthalma Fu & Ye, 1983 | BotiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Leptobotia orientalis Xu, Fang & Wang, 1981 | BotiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Leptobotia pellegrini Fang, 1936 | BotiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Leptobotia rubrilabris (Dabry de Thiersant, 1872) | BotiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Leptobotia tchangi Fang, 1936 | BotiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Leptobotia bellacauda Bohlen & Slechtová, 2016 | BotiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Leptobotia micra Bohlen & Slechtová, 2017 | BotiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Leptobotia citrauratea (Nichols, 1925) | BotiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Leptobotia flavolineata Wang, 1981 | BotiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Leptobotia guilinensis Chen, 1980 | BotiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Leptobotia posterodorsalis Lan & Chen, 1992 | BotiidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Cobitis variegata Dabry de Thiersant, 1872 Dabry de Thiersant, 1872 | synonym |
| Botia elongata Bleeker, 1870 Bleeker, 1870 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1016331 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3TK84. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.