| Stone loach | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cypriniformes |
| Family: | Balitoridae |
| Genus: | Barbatula |
| Species: | B. barbatula |
| Binomial name | |
| Barbatula barbatula (Linnaeus, 1758) |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Nemacheilus barbatulus |
|
The Stone loach, Barbatula barbatula, is a species of ray-finned fish in the Balitoridae family.
It is found in Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.
Stone Loaches live amongst the gravel and stones of fast flowing water where they can search for food. The most distinctive feature of this 14 cm fish is the presence of barbels around the bottom jaw, which they use to detect their invertebrate prey. The body is a mixture of brown, green and yellow.
A common fish in clear rivers and streams with gravel and sandy bottoms. This is most likely in upland areas but also chalk streams. They live on the bottom, often partly buried, and they are particularly active at night.
Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Barbatula barbatula" in FishBase. April 2006 version.