The complete mitochondrial genome of the stone loach Barbatula barbatula (Linnaeus, 1758) (Actinopterygii: Cypriniformes: Nemacheilidae) has been sequenced using a genome-skimming approach on an Illumina Hiseq 2500 platform. The mitochondrial genome of B. barbatula was determined to be 16,630 bp long and presents an organization typical of vertebrate mitogenomes. The mean coverage was 82× with ...

A new species of nemacheilid loach, Triplophysa longliensis, is described from Yudonghe River, a small tributary of Pearl River in Guizhou Province, China. It can be distinguished from other valid Triplophysa loaches by the following combination of characters: body smooth and scaleless; head tapering; lips thin and smooth; posterior chamber of gas bladder highly developed, long, bag-shaped, tip...

A new species of hillstream loach Balitora eddsi is described from the Karnali River drainage in south-western Nepal. The new species is distinguished from all its congeners by possessing the following combination of characters: six to seven unbranched pectoral-fin rays, pelvic-fin length 12-14% standard length (L(S)), dorsal surface without circular or irregular shaped dark blotches, snout poi...

Fish skin serves as the first line of defense against a wide variety of chemical, physical and biological stressors. Secretion of mucus is among the most prominent characteristics of fish skin and numerous innate immune factors have been identified in the epidermal mucus. However, molecular mechanisms underlying the mucus secretion and immune activities of fish skin remain largely unclear due t...

cobitis keyvani is recently described from the sourhern caspian sea basin. limited information is available about morphological features of c. keyvani , therefore this study was conducted to provide osteological characteristics and cranial myology of this species. for this purpose, nine specimens of c. keyvani were collected from the talar river. the specimens were cleared and stained with aliz...