Despite its unsuitability for the majority of home aquaria, this species is available in the aquarium trade on an irregular basis, and has also been marketed as ‘violet-gilled shark’, ‘red-gilled violet shark’ and ‘blushing violet shark’.

It appears likely that L. boga as currently recognised represents a complex of closely-related species.

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.

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.