Misgurnus Explained

Misgurnus is a genus of true loaches found in Europe and Asia. The origin of the name Misgurnus comes from the Greek word (to hate) and the Turkish (loud), a name given to them due to their habit of becoming very active during barometric pressure changes that occur during thunderstorms. The common names, weather loach or weatherfish, also derive from this behavior. Some species of misgurnus are eaten, mostly in Asia, and are also sold as pets in the aquarium trade. Their average size can range from 6 to over 12 inches.

Species

There are currently 12 recognized species in this genus:

• Misgurnus amamianus Nakajima & Hashiguchi, 2022^[1]
• Misgurnus anguillicaudatus (Cantor, 1842) (pond loach, oriental weatherfish)
• Misgurnus bipartitus (Sauvage & Dabry de Thiersant, 1874)
• Misgurnus buphoensis R. T. Kim & S. Y. Park, 1995
• Misgurnus chipisaniensis Shedko & Vasil'eva, 2022
• Misgurnus dabryanus (Guichenot, 1872)
• Misgurnus fossilis (Linnaeus, 1758) (weatherfish)
• Misgurnus mohoity (Dybowski, 1869)
• Misgurnus multimaculatus Rendahl (de), 1944
• Misgurnus nahangensis (Nguyen & Bui, 2009)
• Misgurnus nikolskyi Vasil'eva, 2001
• Misgurnus tonkinensis Rendahl, 1937

See also

• Paramisgurnus dabryanus, a closely related species
• Cobitis taenia, sometimes called "spotted weather loach"

Notes and References

1. Jun Nakajima and Yasuyuki Hashiguchi. 2022. A New Species of the Genus Misgurnus (Cypriniformes, Cobitidae) from Ryukyu Islands, Japan. Zootaxa. 5162(5); 525-540. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5162.5.4