Leptobarbus hoevenii is a tropical freshwater carp that is native to Asia waters. It is a BENTHOPELAGIC fish that can be found in lakes, rivers, streams and floodplains of Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand. The populations of this carp have decreased over the years probably due to increasing human activities, such as construction of dams, deforestation, use of fertilisers and pesticides for farming, and mass exploitation of this fish. Its flesh is rich in protein, vitamin B, and minerals, but probably because of eating parenchyma and seeds of the chaulmoogra tree (Hydnocarpus) falling into the streams, this carp is reported to become intoxicated, so that eating its flesh can cause nausea in humans. Despite that, L. hoevenii has a high commercial value among the cyprinids that have been successfully bred for farming, being an important species for aquaculture in several Southeast Asian countries. Cambodians and Vietnamese praise this fish highly. Moreover, this carp has already been introduced into several countries, as Taiwan and China, both for aquaculture and as an ornamental species. However, important wild and farm information about this carp is still missing in the literature, like home range and substrate use in natural conditions and more specific data about wild aggregation patterns as well as aggression, stress response, and malformation rates under farming conditions. Therefore, further research is needed to better evaluate and improve the welfare of L. hoevenii.
