Redtail Sharkminnow (Epalzeorhynchos bicolor)

Ecological Risk Screening Summary

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, June 2012
Revised, November 2018
Web Version, 1/31/2019

Photo: Pseudogastromyzon/Wikimedia. Released to Public Domain by author. Available:

http://eol.org/data_objects/26835158. (November 7, 2018).

1 Native Range and Status in the United States

Native Range
From Froese and Pauly (2018):

“Asia: Chao Phraya basin, Thailand. Reported from the Mekong basin [Monkolprasit et al.
1997].”

1
“[In Thailand:] Known from Maeklong to Bang Pakong basins [Vidthayanon 2005]. Recorded
from Chao Phraya basin [Yang and Winterbottom 1998]; Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Nakhon
Sawan, Chai Nat and Kanchanaburi [Monkolprasit et al. 1997]. Occurrence in the Mekong River
and its tributaries [Sidthimunka 1970; Monkolprasit et al. 1997] needs confirmation [Yang and
Winterbottom 1998].”

From Vidthayanon (2011):

“It is reported that the species has disappeared from many parts of its range.”

Status in the United States

According to Chapman et al. (1997), 153,242 individuals of Epalzeorhynchos bicolor (listed
under the name Labeo bicolor) were imported to the United States in October 1992 for the
ornamental trade.

Tuckett et al. (2017) captured 11 specimens of E. bicolor in the wild in Florida but within 500m
of an aquaculture facility. E. bicolor was not one of the species identified to have a persistent
wild population.

No records of other introductions or established populations of E. bicolor in the United States

were found.

Means of Introductions in the United States

From Tuckett et al. (2017):

“Some level of fish escape occurred at most facilities and effluent discharge was the primary
pathway.”

Remarks
Information searches were conducted using the valid name Epalzeorhynchos bicolor and the
synonym Labeo bicolor.

From Froese and Pauly (2018):

“IUCN Red List Status: […] Critically Endangered”

“Controlled reproduction for the ornamental fish trade [Ukkatawewat 2005]. It is not clear
whether the species still exists in the wild [Kottelat and Whitten 1996]. Threatened due to habitat
loss and overfishing [Vidthayanon 2005].”

From Vidthayanon (2011):

“Previously it was thought to be Extinct in the Wild and it is believed to be extirpated across its
range apart from one location (C. Vidthayanon pers. comm.) in the Chao Phraya (extent of
occurrence and area of occupancy both less than 10 km²). Historically it has been threatened by

2
high levels of harvesting for the aquarium trade, but now this is supplied entirely by captive bred
individuals. Currently the major threat to the wild population is pollution from agricultural and
domestic sources. More research is needed on this species' presence across its range and a
reintroduction programme is recommended.”

2 Biology and Ecology

Taxonomic Hierarchy and Taxonomic Standing
According to Fricke et al. (2018), Epalzeorhynchos bicolor (Smith 1931) is the valid name for
this species. It was originally described as Labeo bicolor (Smith 1931).

From ITIS (2018):

“Kingdom Animalia
Subkingdom Bilateria
Infrakingdom Deuterostomia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Infraphylum Gnathostomata
Superclass Actinopterygii
Class Teleostei
Superorder Ostariophysi
Order Cypriniformes
Superfamily Cyprinoidea
Family Cyprinidae
Genus Epalzeorhynchos
Species Epalzeorhynchos bicolor (Smith, 1931)”

Size, Weight, and Age Range

From Froese and Pauly (2018):

“Max length : 12.0 cm TL male/unsexed; [Mills and Vevers 1989]”

Environment
From Froese and Pauly (2018):

“Freshwater; demersal; pH range: 6.5 - 7.5; dH range: ? - 15. […]; 22°C - 26°C [assumed to be
recommended aquarium temperature] [Riehl and Baensch 1996]”

From Vidthayanon (2011):

“This fish inhabits lowland streams with rocky or sand gravel bottoms.”

3
Climate/Range
From Froese and Pauly (2018):

“Tropical; […]”

Distribution Outside the United States

Native
From Froese and Pauly (2018):

“Asia: Chao Phraya basin, Thailand. Reported from the Mekong basin [Monkolprasit et al.
1997].”

“[In Thailand:] Known from Maeklong to Bang Pakong basins [Vidthayanon 2005]. Recorded
from Chao Phraya basin [Yang and Winterbottom 1998]; Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Nakhon
Sawan, Chai Nat and Kanchanaburi [Monkolprasit et al. 1997]. Occurrence in the Mekong River
and its tributaries [Sidthimunka 1970; Monkolprasit et al. 1997] needs confirmation [Yang and
Winterbottom 1998].”

From Vidthayanon (2011):

“It is reported that the species has disappeared from many parts of its range.”

Introduced
FAO (2018) lists Epalzeorhynchos bicolor as introduced to the Philippines and status in the wild
as unknown.

Pagad et al. (2018) lists an introduction of E. bicolor to Colombia.

Means of Introduction Outside the United States

From FAO (2018):

“ornamental”

Short Description
Froese and Pauly (2018) list an elongated body, 33–35 lateral line scales, and 5–6 scale rows
below the lateral line as characteristics of Epalzeorhynchos bicolor.

From Yang and Winterbottom (1998):

“In E. munensis and E. bicolor, the caudal fin is uniformly reddish or yellowish-red […]”

“In E. bicolor, E. munensis, E. frenatus, and C. reticulatus, no stripe is present on the side of the
body […]”

4
According to Yang and Winterbottom (1998), E. bicolor has 13–14 branched dorsal rays.

From da Silva Henriques (2016):

“It is a fish characterised by its black body, red fins and small inferior mouth with barbells (Yue
and Shan, 2000). The males are thinner and smaller than females that have rounded and bigger
bodies (Lesmana et al., 2001).

Biology
From Froese and Pauly (2018):

“Inhabits mainstream rivers and floodplains [Vidthayanon 2005]. Omnivorous, feeding on plant
matter and small benthic animal [Vidthayanon 2005].”

Human Uses
From Froese and Pauly (2018):

“Tens of thousands of specimens are exported annually from Thailand for the ornamental trade,
all now captive bred [Kottelat and Whitten 1996]. Aquarium keeping: solitary, adults are
territorial and may 'bully' other fish; minimum aquarium size 12.0 cm [reference unknown].”

“Fisheries: of no interest; aquaculture: commercial; aquarium: highly commercial”

From Vidthayanon (2011):

“The aquarium fish trade has been accused of driving the species to local extirpation because of
very selective overfishing (over the past 40 years), but there is no documented evidence for this
(Kottelat and Whitten 1996).”

Diseases
Infection with Aphanomyces invadans is an OIE-reportable disease.

According to Russo et al. (2006), E. bicolor is susceptible to infection with Streptococcus iniae.

From Czeczuga et al. (2014):

“According to Lilley et al. (2009), this invasive Aphanomyces infection of fish, reported by
Shaheen et al. (1999), was caused by the Aphanomyces invadans species. It has also been
observed in Poland, during autumn, on the skin and muscles of Labeo bicolor Smith specimens
in water from Fosa Pond (Czeczuga et al., 2011c).”

From Froese and Pauly (2018):

“Pop-eye disease, Bacterial diseases

Pseudomonas infection, Bacterial diseases

5
 Bacterial Infections (general), Bacterial diseases
Aeromonosis, Bacterial diseases
Infectious ascites (Ornament.), Bacterial diseases
DMS, Others”

Threat to Humans
From Froese and Pauly (2018):

“Harmless”

3 Impacts of Introductions
A few records of introduction were found for the Philippines and Colombia for Epalzeorhynchus
bicolor but none of the records indicated that the introduction resulted in an established wild
population. There is no information on impacts of introduction.

4 Global Distribution

Figure 1. Known global distribution of Epalzeorhynchos bicolor. Locations are in Thailand and
off the west coast of India. Map from GBIF Secretariat (2018).

The location of the west coast of India (Figure 1) was not used as a source point in the climate
match. The specimens were collected from a market in Mumbai (GBIF Secretariat 2018) and do
not represent established, wild populations.

5 Distribution Within the United States

No records of established, wild populations of Epalzeorhynchos bicolor in the United States
were found.

6
6 Climate Matching
Summary of Climate Matching Analysis
The climate match for Epalzeorhynchos bicolor was low across virtually all of the contiguous
United States. Only small areas of very southern Texas and Florida had medium matches. The
Climate 6 score (Sanders et al. 2018; 16 climate variables; Euclidean distance) for the contiguous
United States was 0.000, low. All States had low individual climate scores.

Figure 2. RAMP (Sanders et al. 2018) source map showing weather stations in Thailand selected
as source locations (red) and non-source locations (gray) for Epalzeorhynchos bicolor climate
matching. Source locations from GBIF Secretariat (2018).

7
Figure 3. Map of RAMP (Sanders et al. 2018) climate matches for Epalzeorhynchos bicolor in
the contiguous United States based on source locations reported by GBIF Secretariat (2018).
0 = Lowest match, 10 = Highest match.

The High, Medium, and Low Climate match Categories are based on the following table:

Climate 6: Proportion of Climate Match

(Sum of Climate Scores 6-10) / (Sum of total Climate Scores) Category
0.000≤X≤0.005 Low
0.005<X<0.103 Medium
≥0.103 High

7 Certainty of Assessment
The certainty of assessment is medium. There is quality general information available about
Epalzeorhynchos bicolor. A few records of introduction were found but no records of
establishment; therefore there is no information on impacts of introduction, such as whether it is
likely to spread the pathogens the species can carry and what effect that would have on U.S.
native species. Some information on volume and duration of trade was found.

8
8 Risk Assessment
Summary of Risk to the Contiguous United States
Redtail Sharkminnow (Epalzeorhynchos bicolor) is a species of cyprinid native to the Chao
Phraya basin in Thailand. This fish has been extirpated from much of its original native range
due to a combination of human inducted factors, including overharvesting for the ornamental
industry. E. bicolor is still extremely popular in the ornamental trade and is supplied through
extensive captive breeding. E. bicolor is susceptible to some diseases, including infection with
Aphanomyces invadans, which is an OIE-reportable disease. The history of invasiveness is low.
A few records of introduction were found, but no records of establishment were found. E. bicolor
has been in trade for at least 4 decades. In a single month in 1992, 153,242 individuals of E.
bicolor were imported to the United States alone. If this number is extrapolated for even a single
decade that would result in an estimated trade volume of over 18 million individuals. The climate
match was low. There were only two small areas of medium match in the contiguous United
States, southern Texas and southern Florida. The certainty of assessment is medium. The overall
risk assessment category is low.

Assessment Elements
 History of Invasiveness (Sec. 3): Low
 Climate Match (Sec. 6): Low
 Certainty of Assessment (Sec. 7): Medium
 Remarks/Important additional information: Infection with Aphanomyces invadans, an
OIE-reportable disease.
 Overall Risk Assessment Category: Low

9 References
Note: The following references were accessed for this ERSS. References cited within
quoted text but not accessed are included below in Section 10.

Chapman, F. A., S. A. Fitz-Coy, E. M. Thunberg, and C. M. Adams. 1997. United States of

America trade in ornamental fish. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society 28(1):1–10.

Czeczuga, B., A. Semeniuk, and E. Czeczuga-Semeniuk. 2014. Straminipiles fungi growing on

the alevins of the Nile Tilapia in limnologically and trophically different water bodies.
African Journal of Agricultural Research 9(18):1346–1353.

da Silva Henriques, L. G. 2016. Induction of gonadal growth/maturation in the ornamental fishes

Epalzeorhynchos bicolor and Carassius auratus and stereological validation in
C. auratus of histological grading systems for assessing the ovary and testis statuses.
Master’s thesis. University of Porto, Portugal.

FAO (Fisheries and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). 2018. Database on
introductions of aquatic species. FAO, Rome. Available:
http://www.fao.org/fishery/introsp/search/en. (November 2018).

9
Fricke, R., W. N. Eschmeyer, and R. van der Laan, editors. 2018. Catalog of fishes: genera,
species, references. Available:
http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/fishcatmain.asp.
(November 2018).

Froese, R., and D. Pauly, editors. 2018. Epalzeorhynchos bicolor (Smith, 1931). FishBase.
Available: http://www.fishbase.org/summary/Epalzeorhynchos-bicolor.html. (November
2018).

GBIF Secretariat. 2018. GBIF backbone taxonomy: Epalzeorhynchos bicolor (Smith, 1931).
Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Copenhagen. Available:
https://www.gbif.org/species/2360397. (November 2018).

ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System). 2018. Epalzeorhynchos bicolor (Smith, 1931).
Integrated Taxonomic Information System, Reston, Virginia. Available:
https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=639
588#null. (November 2018).

Pagad, S., P. Genovesi, L. Carnevali, D. Schigel, and M. A. McGeoch. 2018. Introducing the
Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5:170202.

Russo, R., R. P. E. Yanong, and H. Mitchell. Dietary beta‐glucans and nucleotides enhance
resistance of Red‐Tail Black Shark (Epalzeorhynchos bicolor, fam. Cyprinidae) to
Streptococcus iniae infection. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society 37(3):298–306.

Sanders, S., C. Castiglione, and M. Hoff. 2018. Risk assessment mapping program: RAMP,
version 3.1. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Tuckett, Q. M., J. L. Ritch, K. M. Lawson, and J. E. Hill. 2017. Landscape-scale survey of non-
native fishes near ornamental aquaculture facilities in Florida, USA. Biological Invasions
19:223–237.

Vidthayanon, C. 2011. Epalzeorhynchos bicolor. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
2011: e.T7807A12852157. Available:
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/7807/12852157. (November 2018).

Yang, J.-X., and R. Winterbottom. 1998. Phylogeny and zoogeography of the cyprinid genus
Epalzeorhynchos Bleeker (Cyprinidae: Ostariophysi). Copeia 1998(1):48–63.

10
10 References Quoted But Not Accessed
Note: The following references are cited within quoted text within this ERSS, but were not
accessed for its preparation. They are included here to provide the reader with more
information.

Czeczuga, B., A. Semeniuk, E. Muszynska, and K. Najecka. 2011. Fungi and straminipilous
organisms growing on some aquarium fish species in water from different water bodies.
Current Trends in Ecology 2:63–73.

Kottelat, M., and T. Whitten. 1996. Freshwater biodiversity in Asia, with special reference to
fish. World Bank Technical Paper 343.

Lesmana, D., [no initial] Satyani, and I. Dermawan. 2001. Budidaya Ikan Hias Air Tawar
Populer. Penebar Swadaya.

Lilley, et al. 2009. [Source material did not give full citation for this reference.]

Mills, D., and G. Vevers. 1989. The Tetra encyclopedia of freshwater tropical aquarium fishes.
Tetra Press, New Jersey.

Monkolprasit, S., S. Sontirat, S. Vimollohakarn, and T. Songsirikul. 1997. Checklist of fishes in

Thailand. Office of Environmental Policy and Planning, Bangkok, Thailand.

Riehl, R., and H. A. Baensch. 1996. Aquarien Atlas, band 1, 10th edition. Mergus Verlag
GmBH, Melle, Germany.

Shaheen, A. A., E. Elsayed, and M. Faisal. 1999. Isolation of Aphanomyces sp (p), associated
with skin lesions and mortalities in the Striped (Mugil cephalus) and the Thin Lip (Liza
ramada) grey mulltes. Bulletin of the European Association of Fish Pathologists 19:79–
82.

Sidthimunka, A. 1970. A report on the fisheries survey of the Mekong River in the vicinity of the
Pa Mong Dam site. Inland Fisheries Division, Department of Fisheries, Bangkok,
Thailand.

Smith, H. M. 1931. Descriptions of new genera and species of Siamese fishes. Proceedings of the
United States National Museum 79:1-48.

Ukkatawewat, S. 2005. The taxonomic characters and biology of some important freshwater
fishes in Thailand. National Inland Fisheries Institute, Department of Fisheries, Ministry
of Agriculture, Bangkok, Thailand,

Vidthayanon, C. 2005. Thailand red data: fishes. Office of Natural Resources and Environmental
Policy and Planning, Bangkok, Thailand

11
Yue, P. Q., and X. H. Shan. 2000. Fauna Sinca: Osteichthyes, Cypriniformes. Science Press,
Beijing.

12