Reference articles on history, science, culture and more
Surprise meSurprise meSubscribe
Encyclopedia

Triplophysa

Genus of fishes

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
7 min read
Source updated August 17, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Triplophysa is a genus of fish in the family Nemacheilidae found mainly in and around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China, as well as inland waters of the larger part of central Asia. They can be distinguished from other genera of Nemacheilidae by marked sexual dimorphism, including the development of nuptial tubercles on breeding males. Currently, the genus is a mixed assemblage of species. Some lineages have been identified and treated as subgenera (Hedinichthys, Indotriplophysa, Labiatophysa, Qinghaichthys and Tarimichthys), but as Wikipedia follows Fishbase for fish species all but Hedinichthys have been treated as subgenera in Wikipedia, although Kottelat in his revision of the loaches did recognise them as valid. FishBase, however, includes these in Triplophysa without specifying subgenera and treats the names given by Kottelat as synonyms.

01Ecology

Triplophysa zhaoi holds the record for the lowest altitude for Asian fish: it is found at 50 m (160 ft) below sea level in swamps of the Lükqün oasis, in the Turpan Depression in Xinjiang. In the other end, Triplophysa stolickai holds the record altitude for Asian fish: it is found at 5,200 m (17,100 ft) above sea level in hot springs near the Longmu Lake in western Tibet. Triplophysa dalaica has been used as model species to study adaptation to high-altitude hypoxia and 13 positively selected genes involved in hypoxia response have been identified. Some species are blind cave-dwellers.

02Species

These are the currently recognized species in this genus:

Watch videos about TriplophysaExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Triplophysa”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.