This species is endemic to and widespread within peninsular India, where it has been recorded from the states of Gujrat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

It is thus found in numerous river systems of which some of the most important include the Tapti, Narmada, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, and Cauvery.

This species is clearly unsuitable for the home aquarium given its eventual size and natural behaviour, and we know of only a handful of private aquarists with the facilities required to house it long-term.

The grouping currently contains four species but is in urgent need of review with a number of additional taxa thought to exist and B. yarrelli possibly representing a synonym of B. bagarius.

Type locality is given as ‘Cedawáti [Vedawati] stream, headwaters of Krishna River near Heriuru, Mysore, India’, with the species currently considered to occur throughout India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and probably Bhutan.

It’s also been recorded in Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand and Sri Lanka although some or all of these reports may refer to other species.

‘N.‘ anguilla can be told apart from other Indian members of the genus by possessing dark flank markings which are partially or completely merged to form a lateral stripe, and an almost-complete lateral line extending to the anal-fin.

Kottelat (2012) states that its generic placement requires additional study hence the genus name i…

This species is still considered a member of the genus Nemacheilus by some sources, but it was reclassified and placed in Acanthocobitis by Grant (2008).

Acanthocobitis sinuata, generally considered a junior synonym of A. mooreh (Kottelat, 2012b), also appears distinct and differs in geographical distribution plus number of dorsal-fin rays (2-3/9-10 in A. mooreh vs. 2/8-9 in A. sinuata) and some aspects of colour pattern.

Generally considered to have an enormous natural range extending from Iran to Taiwan and Bali, with records existing from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.

However there exists significant evidence to suggest that C. gachua as currently understood represents a complex of similar-looking species, and a taxonomic review of the group is clearly required.