CreatureData

Spine loach

Cobitis taenia Linnaeus, 1758

Status not recordedbony fish

The spine loach (Cobitis taenia) is a species in the family Cobitidae, order Cypriniformes.

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Quick facts about the spine loach

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the spine loach live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the spine loach as introduced in 2 countries.

  1. Russia
  2. Vietnam

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the spine loach endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the spine loach classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classTeleostei
  4. orderCypriniformes
  5. familyCobitidae
  6. genusCobitis
  7. SpeciesCobitis taenia Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms Acantopsis taenia, Cobites fluviatilis, Cobitis spilura, Cobitis taenia danubialis, Cobitis taenia taenia, Cobitis taenioides

Other names and names in other languages (56)
  • Common spined loachEnglish
  • Spined loachEnglish
  • Spotted weather loachEnglish
  • WeatherfishEnglish
  • ШчыпоўкаBelarusian
  • GatetCatalan
  • sekavec písečnýCzech
  • gwrachen bigogWelsh
  • pigsmerlingDanish
  • DorngrundelGerman
  • ΒελονίτσαGreek
  • Locha EspinosaSpanish
  • hinkEstonian
  • Sagmahi-e-jooibariPersian
  • rantanuoliainenFinnish
  • Loche épineuseFrench
  • קרציף ברדHebrew
  • vágó csíkHungarian
  • cobite comuneItalian
  • タイリクスジシマドジョウJapanese
  • 기름종개Korean
  • kirtiklisLithuanian
  • AkmeņgrauzisLatvian
  • Обична штипалкаMacedonian
  • sandsmettNorwegian Bokmål
  • kleine modderkruiperDutch
  • sandsmettNorwegian Nynorsk
  • kozaPolish
  • VerdemãPortuguese
  • zvârlugăRomanian
  • Щиповка обыкновеннаяRussian
  • pĺž severnýSlovak
  • nežicaSlovenian
  • ВијунSerbian
  • nissögaSwedish
  • அயிரை மீன்Tamil
  • taşısıran balığıTurkish
  • Щипавка звичайнаUkrainian
  • 花鰍Chinese
  • Gwrachod PigogWelsh
  • Almindelig pigsmerlingDanish
  • SteinbeisserGerman
  • Harilik hinkEstonian
  • loche de rivièreFrench
  • Cobite europeoItalian
  • Cobite fluvialeItalian
  • タイリクシマドジョウJapanese
  • 하늘종개Korean
  • Paprastasis kirtiklisLithuanian
  • Koza pospolitaPolish
  • kózkaPolish
  • Verdemã-europeiaPortuguese
  • обыкновенная щиповкаRussian
  • navadna nežicaSlovenian
  • Vardar TaşyiyeniTurkish
  • Щипівка звичайнаUkrainian

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the spine loach

Other species in the same genus Cobitis.

CompareSpine loach vs Italian spined loachSpine loach vs North Iberian spined loachSpine loach vs LamprehuelaSpine loach vs Balkan loach

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the spine loach an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the spine loach as introduced in 2 countries: Russia and Vietnam, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

What kind of animal is the spine loach?

The spine loach (Cobitis taenia) belongs to the family Cobitidae in the order Cypriniformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Spine loach (Cobitis taenia). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/cobitis-taenia

MLA

“Spine loach (Cobitis taenia).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/cobitis-taenia.

BibTeX
@misc{cobitis_taenia_2026,
  title = {Spine loach (Cobitis taenia)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/cobitis-taenia},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}