Aborichthys is a genus of slender river loaches in family Nemacheilidae, restricted to fast-flowing hill streams of northeastern India, Bhutan, and Myanmar - a comparatively narrow range within the wider loach-rich rivers draining the eastern Himalaya. Atlas species run 2.5–4.5 in, elongate and cylindrical, adapted to gripping the substrate and holding position in swift current, with the small mouth and reduced scaling typical of stone loaches.
This is a genus known mainly to specialist loach keepers and regional ichthyologists rather than the mainstream aquarium trade - the red-tailed squirrel loach (A. elongatus) is the species most likely to turn up in specialist imports, valued for its slender shape and reddish tail banding, though availability stays sporadic. Most species in the atlas (11 of 15) are Not Evaluated for conservation status, a sign of how little survey work has reached this geographically narrow, fast-water genus; the assessed species include 2 Vulnerable and 1 Near Threatened, hinting at real pressure from stream habitat change in a region under heavy hydropower development.