FISHES 155 PLANTS

Kayahschistura lokalayensis

Fish

Photo: Maurice Kottelat & Jozef Grego A new cavefish was discovered in the Lokalay Loku Gu Cave in Kayah State, Myanmar, where exploration of cave biology is still in its infancy. The first cave fish in the family Nemacheilidae to have been discovered in Myanmar; it lacks colour, has extremely underdeveloped eyes, and has very unusual pectoral fin rays. Given how distinct it is from other fish in the same family found in South and Southeast Asia, it has been assigned a new genus name, Kayahschistura. Like most nemacheilids, this species is small and lives in ponds and streams, feeding and reproducing under stones. The cave where it was found is located in the catchment of a tributary of the Salween River.

The Salween River is one of the last free-flowing rivers in Asia, still uninterrupted by large-scale dams. Roughly 2,400 km long, it supports several critical biodiversity hotspots. Protecting the remaining free-flowing rivers is crucial to saving the biodiversity of freshwater systems, which are some of the most vulnerable in the world.1

Kottelat, Maurice & Grego, Jozef. (2020). Kayahschistura lokalayensis, a new genus and species of cave fish from Myanmar (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. Suppl. 35. 179-185. https://doi.org/10.26107/RBZ-2020-0050