Lepidocephalichthys hasselti is a species of cobitid loach native to southeastern Asia and western Indonesia. This species reaches a length of 45mm TL.
Named in honor of Dutch physician and biologist Johan Coenraad van Hasselt (1797-1823), who while exploring the colonial Dutch East Indies in 1820 provided an illustration of this species.Hasselt traveled with his friend Heinrich Kuhl.[1]
According to Kottelat & Lim 1992, L. hasselti is distinguished from other described species of Lepidocephalichthys in Southeast Asia in usually having an ocellated black spot centered at base of branched caudal rays 3–4; or it replaced by black or darker area. Its size is up to 45 mm SL; body with a median longitudinal stripe or a row of adjacent black spots, with an unpigmented stripe above it, back marmorated, finely spotted or blotched. Caudal fin with series (usually 3–6) of vertical bars; dorsal origin above posterior extremity of pelvic base.[2]
It has a widespread distribution: Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Yunnan; southward through Peninsular Malaysia to western Indonesia (Sumatra, Borneo and Java). IUCN listed it as LC (Least Concern).[3]