Cobitis is a genus of small freshwater fish in the family Cobitidae from temperate and subtropical Eurasia. It contains the "typical spiny loaches", including the well-known spined loach of Europe. Similar spiny loaches, occurring generally south of the range of Cobitis, are nowadays separated in Sabanejewia.

Species

There are currently 130 recognized species in this genus:

• Cobitis afifeae Freyhof, Bayçelebi & Geiger, 2018

• Cobitis aliyeae Freyhof, Bayçelebi & Geiger, 2018

• Cobitis almadae Doadrio, Sousa-Santos & Robalo, 2023

• Cobitis amphilekta Vasil'eva & Vasil'ev, 2012 (Khvalyn spined loach)

• Cobitis anabelae Freyhof, Bayçelebi & Geiger, 2018

• Cobitis arachthosensis Economidis & Nalbant, 1996

• Cobitis arenae (S. Y. Lin, 1934)

• Cobitis atlantica Doadrio, Sousa-Santos, Robalo & Perea, 2023

• Cobitis austiumensis Endruweit, 2025

• Cobitis australis Y. X. Chen, Y. F. Chen & D. K. He, 2013

• Cobitis avicennae Mousavi-Sabet, Vatandoust, Esmaeili, Geiger & Freyhof, 2015 (Zagros spined loach)

• Cobitis baishagensis Y. X. Chen, X. Y. Sui, N. Liang & Y. F. Chen, 2015

• Cobitis battalgilae Băcescu, 1962 (Battalgil's spined loach)

• Cobitis beijingensis Sun & Zhao, 2025

• Cobitis bilineata Canestrini, 1865

• Cobitis bilseli Battalgil, 1942 (Beyşehir spined loach)

• Cobitis biwae D. S. Jordan & Snyder, 1901

• Cobitis brachysoma Chen & Chen, 2018

• Cobitis brevifasciata (I. S. Kim & W. O. Lee, 1995)

• Cobitis brevipinna (Chen & Chen, 2017)

• Cobitis calderoni Băcescu, 1962

• Cobitis choii I. S. Kim & Y. M. Son, 1984 (Choi's spined loach)

• Cobitis crassicauda Y. X. Chen & Y. F. Chen, 2013

• Cobitis dalmatina S. L. Karaman, 1928

• Cobitis delicata Niwa, 1937

• Cobitis derzhavini Vasil’eva, Solovyeva, Levin & Vasil’ev, 2020

• Cobitis dolichorhynchus Nichols, 1918

• Cobitis dorademiri Erk' Akan, Özdemir & Özeren, 2017

• Cobitis elazigensis Coad & Sarıeyyüpoglu, 1988 (Tigris spined loach)

• Cobitis elongata Heckel & Kner, 1857

• Cobitis elongatoides Băcescu & R. F. Mayer, 1969

• Cobitis emrei Freyhof, Bayçelebi & Geiger, 2018

• Cobitis erkakanae Freyhof, Bayçelebi & Geiger, 2018

• Cobitis evreni Erk' Akan, Özeren & Nalbant, 2008 (Ceyhan spined loach)

• Cobitis fahireae Erk' Akan, Ekmekçi & Nalbant, 1998 (Küçük Menderes spined loach)

• Cobitis faridpaki Mousavi-Sabet, Vasil'eva, Vatandoust & Vasil'ev, 2011

• Cobitis fasciola Y. X. Chen & Y. F. Chen, 2013

• Cobitis feroniae Novaga, Bellucci, Geiger & Freyhof, 2024

• Cobitis fimbriata (Chen & Chen, 2017)

• Cobitis gladkovi Vasil'ev & Vasil'eva, 2008

• Cobitis gracilis Y. X. Chen & Y. F. Chen, 2016

• Cobitis haasi Klausewitz, 1955

• Cobitis hankugensis I. S. Kim, J. Y. Park, Y. M. Son & Nalbant, 2003

• Cobitis hellenica Economidis & Nalbant, 1996

• Cobitis hereromacula Y. X. Chen, X. Y. Sui, N. Liang & Y. F. Chen, 2015

• Cobitis herzegoviniensis Buj & Šanda, 2014

• Cobitis hugowolfeldi (Nalbant, 1993)

• Cobitis illyrica Freyhof & Stelbrink, 2007

• Cobitis indus Eagderi, Seçer & Freyhof, 2022

• Cobitis jadovaensis Mustafić & Mrakovčić, 2008

• Cobitis joergbohleni Freyhof, Bayçelebi & Geiger, 2018

• Cobitis kaibarai Nakajima, 2012

• Cobitis kellei Erk' Akan, Ekmekçi & Nalbant, 1998 (Göksu spined loach)

• Cobitis koreensis I. S. Kim, 1975

• Cobitis laoensis (Sauvage, 1878)

• Cobitis laterimaculata J. P. Yan & M. L. Zheng, 1984

• Cobitis lebedevi Vasil'eva & Vasil'ev, 1985

• Cobitis leptosoma Chen, Sui, He & Chen, 2015

• Cobitis levantina Krupp & Moubayed-Breil, 1992 (Orontes spined loach)

• Cobitis linea (Heckel, 1847)

• Cobitis longibarba (Y. F. Chen & Y. X. Chen, 2005)

• Cobitis longicorpus I. S. Kim, K. C. Choi & Nalbant, 1976

• Cobitis lutheri Rendahl (de), 1935 (Luther's spined loach)

• Cobitis macrostigma Dabry de Thiersant, 1872

• Cobitis magnostriata Nakajima, 2012

• Cobitis maroccana Pellegrin, 1929

• Cobitis matsubarae Okada & Ikeda, 1939

• Cobitis megaspila Nalbant, 1993

• Cobitis melanoleuca Nichols, 1925

• Cobitis mellaria Doadrio & Perea, 2023

• Cobitis meridionalis S. L. Karaman, 1924

• Cobitis microcephala Y. X. Chen & Y. F. Chen, 2011

• Cobitis minamorii Nakajima, 2012

• Cobitis minhi S. V. Ngô, 2008

• Cobitis monorus Endruweit, 2025

• Cobitis multifasciata Wakiya & T. Mori, 1929

• Cobitis multimaculata Y. X. Chen & Y. F. Chen, 2011

• Cobitis nalbanti Vasil'eva, D. M. Kim, Vasil'ev, M. H. Ko & Y. J. Won, 2016 (Nalbant's spined loach)

• Cobitis narentana S. L. Karaman, 1928

• Cobitis nigrolinea (Chen & Chen, 2017)

• Cobitis obtusirostra Chen, Sui, He & Chen, 2015

• Cobitis ohridana S. L. Karaman, 1928

• Cobitis pacifica I. S. Kim, J. Y. Park & Nalbant, 1999

• Cobitis paludica (F. de Buen, 1930)

• Cobitis petrtyli Endruweit, 2025

• Cobitis phrygica Battalgazi, 1944 (Acı spined loach)

• Cobitis pirii Freyhof, Bayçelebi & Geiger, 2018

• Cobitis pontica Vasil'eva & Vasil'ev, 2006 (Pontic spined loach)

• Cobitis pulchra Endruweit, 2025

• Cobitis pumila I. S. Kim & W. O. Lee, 1987 (Puan spined loach)

• Cobitis puncticulata Erk' Akan, Ekmekçi & Nalbant, 1998 (Spotted spined loach)

• Cobitis punctilineata Economidis & Nalbant, 1996

• Cobitis qujiangensis (Chen & Chen, 2017

• Cobitis rara J. X. Chen, 1981

• Cobitis sakahoko Nakajima & Suzawa, 2015

• Cobitis saniae Eagderi, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Jalili, Sayyadzadeh & Esmaeili, 2017

• Cobitis satunini Gladkov, 1935

• Cobitis shikokuensis Suzawa, 2006

• Cobitis sibirica Gladkov, 1935

• Cobitis simplicispina Hankó (hu), 1925 (Sakarya spined loach)

• Cobitis sinensis Sauvage & Dabry de Thiersant, 1874 (Siberian spined loach)

• Cobitis sipahilerae Erk' Akan, Özdemir & Özeren, 2017

• Cobitis splendens Erk' Akan, Ekmekçi & Nalbant, 1998 (Splendid spined loach)

• Cobitis squataeniata Ngô, 2008

• Cobitis stenocauda Y. X. Chen & Y. F. Chen, 2013

• Cobitis stephanidisi Economidis, 1992

• Cobitis striata Ikeda, 1936

• Cobitis strumicae S. L. Karaman, 1955 (Bulgarian spined loach)

• Cobitis taenia Linnaeus, 1758 (Spined loach)

• Cobitis takatsuensis Mizuno, 1970

• Cobitis takenoi Nakajima, 2016

• Cobitis tanaitica Băcescu & R. F. Mayer, 1969

• Cobitis taurica Vasil'eva, Vasil'ev, Janko, Ráb & Rábová, 2005

• Cobitis tetralineata I. S. Kim, J. Y. Park & Nalbant, 1999

• Cobitis tigrina (Zhang, Zhang, Chen & Zhang, 2025)

• Cobitis tosaensis Takahashi, 2026

• Cobitis trichonica Stephanidis, 1974

• Cobitis troasensis Freyhof, Bayçelebi & Geiger, 2018

• Cobitis turcica Hankó (hu), 1925 (Turkish spined loach)

• Cobitis vardarensis S. L. Karaman, 1928 (Vardar spined loach)

• Cobitis vettonica Doadrio & Perdices, 1997

• Cobitis xinjiangensis (Y. F. Chen & Y. X. Chen, 2005)

• Cobitis xui Tan, Li, Wu & Yang, 2019

• Cobitis ylengensis S. V. Ngô, 2003

• Cobitis yongdokensis (I. S. Kim & J. Y. Park, 1997)

• Cobitis zanandreai Cavicchioli, 1965

• Cobitis zhejiangensis Y. M. Son & S. P. He, 2005

• Synonyms

• Cobitis damlae Erk' Akan & Özdemir, 2014 (Dalaman spined loach); valid as C. fahireae

References