Record of Cobitis matsubarae (Cypriniformes, Cobitidae) from the Shonai River, Oyodo River system, Kagoshima Prefecture, southern Kyushu, Japan

Abstract

Two voucher specimens of the spined loach, Cobitis matsubarae Okada and Ikeda, 1939, collected from the Shonai River, a branch river of the Oyodo River system, southern Kyushu, Japan, represent the first reliable record of that species from the Oyodo River system. Morphological features of the male lamina circularis, prepelvic myotome number, maxillary barbel length, snout length, body pigmentation patterns, and genetic characteristics of mtDNA cytb sequences were in close agreement with characters those of C. matsubarae. Together with C. sakahoko, C. matsubarae, is considered to be distributed naturally in the Oyodo River system.