Lefua

Lefua is a genus of stone loaches native to East Asia. Members of this genus possess nostrils (usually one pair) and barbels around their mouths (usually 4 pairs, with one pair being directly anterior to the nostrils). They generally have column-shaped bodies and are good swimmers.^[1]

Lefua
Lefua echigonia
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Cypriniformes
Family:	Nemacheilidae
Genus:	Lefua Herzenstein, 1888
Type species
Lefua pleskei Herzenstein, 1888
Synonyms
Elxis Jordan & Fowler, 1903 Octonema Herzenstein, 1888

Species

There are currently eight recognized species in this genus:^[2][1][3]

• Lefua costata (Kessler, 1876) (Eightbarbel loach, Continental eight barbeled loach)
• Lefua echigonia D. S. Jordan & R. E. Richardson, 1907 (Japanese eight barbeled loach)
• Lefua nikkonis (D. S. Jordan & Fowler, 1903) (ainu eight barbeled loach)
• Lefua nishimurai (Katayama, Y., & Sawada, N. (2024) ^[4]
• Lefua pleskei (Herzenstein, 1888)
• Lefua sayu (Herre & S. Y. Lin, 1936)
• Lefua tokaiensis (Hosoya, Ito & Miyazaki, 2019) (tokai stream eight barbeled loach)
• Lefua torrentis (Hosoya, Ito & Miyazaki, 2018) (stream eight barbeled loach)