Distribution and Length-weight Relationships of Glyptosternoid Fishes in the Drung River Basin, Yunnan

Glyptosternoid fishes are a group of sisorid catfishes living in torrents of rivers mainly originating from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Based on our survey in the Drung River Basin, seven collecting sites were investigated and 271 glyptosternoid fishes caught belong to three species (Pareuchiloglanis kamengensis, Exostoma labiatum and Oreoglanis macropterus). Features of the distribution of the three catfishes were assessed. More individuals of E. labiatum were caught in the lower reaches of the Drung River with fast water velocity and it might be more adapted to a torrent habitat. The relationships between standard length (L) and weight (W) for P. kamengensis, E. labiatum and O. macropterus were also studied, and the parameter b of the L-W relationship (W=aLb) ranged between 2.8201 and 3.0131. From the present study, all the three catfish species grow allometrically and the growth type of E. labiatum is the closest to a symmetrical one.