''Schizopygopsis labiosa'' is a species of

cyprinid Cyprinidae is a Family (biology), family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family, including the carps, the true minnows, and their relatives the barb (fish), barbs and barbel (fish), barbels, among others. Cyprinidae is the ...

fish that is only found in the upper reaches of the

Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

basin in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, where it mostly inhabits slow-flowing cold waters at altitudes above . It was regarded as the only member of the genus ''Chaunchia'', and as a schizothoracine (snowtrout and allies).Tang, Y.; C. Li; K. Wanghe; C. Feng; C. Tong; F. Tian; and K. Zhao (2019). Convergent evolution misled taxonomy in schizothoracine fishes (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 134: 323–337 Qi, D.; Y. Chao; Y. Zhao; M. Xia; and R. Wu (2018). Molecular evolution of myoglobin in the Tibetan Plateau endemic schizothoracine fish (Cyprinidae, Teleostei) and tissue-specific expression changes under hypoxia. Fish Physiology and Biochemistry 44(2): 557–571. .Qi, D.; Y. Chao; S. Guo; L. Zhao; T. Li; F. Wei; and X. Zhao (2012). Convergent, Parallel and Correlated Evolution of Trophic Morphologies in the Subfamily Schizothoracinae from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. PLoS ONE 7(3): e34070. However, ''

Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes Catalog of Fishes is a comprehensive on-line database and reference work on the scientific names of fish species and genera. It is global in its scope and is hosted by the California Academy of Sciences. It has been compiled and is continuously up ...

'' classifies this species within the genus '' Schizopygopsis'' in the subfamily Schizopygopsinae. ''Schizopygopsis labiosa'' reaches up to in length. Its lower jaw has a horny sheath, which it uses to scrape invertebrates and algae off the bottom.Qi, D. (2016). Fish of the Upper Yellow River. Pp. 233–252 in: G.J. Brierley et al. (eds.). Landscape and Ecosystem Diversity, Dynamics and Management in the Yellow River Source Zone. Springer Geography. It has seriously declined because of habitat loss, overfishing and

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

, and is now listed as vulnerable on China's Red List.

References

Cyprinid fish of Asia Freshwater fish of China Taxa named by Solomon Herzenstein Fish described in 1891 labiosa {{Cyprinidae-stub