Living habits and morphological characteristics of the Rift Gorge barbel (Daijiaba red fish)

Hampala macrolepidota belongs to the order Cypriniformes, family Cyprinidae, subfamily Hampala, and genus Hampala macrolepidota. Commonly known as: Bahong (Dai transliteration). English name: Grooved isthmus barbel.

Endangerment level: Vulnerable.

The body is long and spindle-shaped, with flat sides and a round abdomen without edges. The head is larger, accounting for about 1/3 of the body length. The snout is round and blunt, slightly protruding, and the tip of the snout is smooth. The snout is underdeveloped. At the end of the mouth, the corner of the mouth reaches the edge of the eye, and there is a groove between the upper lip and the snout. This groove extends backward around the corner of the mouth and the outside of the base of the mouth must be stretched forward and inward to form a postlabial groove. The left and right posterior labial grooves are not connected to each other. The length of the mouth must be approximately equal to the diameter of the eye. There is a deep longitudinal groove in the center of the gill gorge reaching below the mouth. The gill membranes are connected and free. Scales are larger; lateral line scales 26-29. The last hard spine of the dorsal fin is soft in the upper part and slightly harder in the lower part and sometimes has small serrations; the outer edges of the dorsal and anal fins are concave. The body is silvery white, the dorsal side is dark green, and there is a vertical black stripe between the starting points of the dorsal and pelvic fins. The dorsal fin is gray and black, the other fins are orange-red, and the upper and lower edges of the caudal fin are black.

Lives in plains, rivers and lakes in the tropical rainforest areas of Southeast Asia. Likes slow flowing water. It is an omnivorous fish. The general body length is 200-300 mm. In addition to the orange fins, anal fins and tail fins of adult males, there are many small pearl-like star chasers on the head and body scales. The small fish also has obvious black vertical stripes in the middle of the caudal peduncle and the base of the caudal fin, and there is a round black spot above the front end of the anal fin base of the tail.

The Rift Gorge barbel is only distributed in Mengla and Menglun in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, in the lower reaches of the Lancang River in my country; abroad it is distributed in Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, Kalimantan, Sumatra and Java Island.

It was originally more common in the lower reaches of the Lancang River in my country. Due to the intensification of human activities in the area, overfishing, poisoning, bombing, and electric fishing, the fish resources have been severely damaged, and this fish is now rarely seen.

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