Taxonomy & naming
Discogobio acutusirostris was described in 2026 by Shu-Qing Deng, Chao Deng and E Zhang in Zootaxa, based on material from the Chenshui River in Guizhou Province, southwestern China. It belongs to the genus Discogobio, part of the subfamily Labeoninae within the family Cyprinidae, and the describing authors assign it to the species group within the genus diagnosed by a large mental adhesive disc whose edge extends to or beyond the vertical through the front of the eye, together with a snout covered in small tubercles.
Within that species group, D. acutusirostris is separated from its congeners by a combination of characters: numerous rows of dark brown spots running along the scale rows of the flank, an unscaled patch of the abdomen restricted only to the bases of the pectoral fins (rather than extending more broadly along the belly, as in some relatives), a comparatively shorter snout, a stouter caudal peduncle and shorter pectoral fins. The authors report that a phylogenetic analysis based on the cytochrome b gene corroborates the species as genetically distinct from its relatives. The same paper also designates a lectotype for Discogobio brachyphysallidos, a separate, previously described species, as part of a broader taxonomic review of the genus in this region — an act of nomenclatural housekeeping unrelated to the diagnosis of the new species itself.
The Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer, CAS) records the valid combination as Discogobio acutusirostris Deng, Deng & Zhang, 2026, with no parentheses around the authority, indicating the species was described in the genus it still carries.
Morphology
No absolute length measurements for Discogobio acutusirostris were accessible for this article; detailed morphometric and meristic tables in the primary description sit behind a subscription paywall. What is documented in the available abstract is the set of characters used to diagnose the species: a large, disc-shaped adhesive pad on the underside of the chin, its margin reaching to or past a line drawn vertically through the front edge of the eye, and a snout thickly set with small tubercles — both features typical of the genus Discogobio as a whole and associated with life in fast-flowing water.
The flank carries numerous rows of dark brown spots following the scale rows, a pattern the describing authors use to separate it from close relatives. The skin of the abdomen is mostly scaled, with the unscaled area restricted to a small patch at the base of each pectoral fin, unlike some congeners in which a broader strip of the belly lacks scales. Compared to its closest relatives, D. acutusirostris has a shorter snout, a stouter (proportionally deeper) caudal peduncle, and shorter pectoral fins. Colouration beyond the described spot pattern, and full fin-ray and scale counts, were not accessible for this article.
Habitat
Discogobio acutusirostris is known from the Chenshui River, a tributary of the Yuanjiang River, in Jiangkou County, Tongren City, Guizhou Province, China — the type locality for the holotype. The Catalog of Fishes gives its broader distribution as the Yuanjiang and Xiangjiang River drainages of the Dongting Lake system, within the middle reaches of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze) River basin in Guizhou Province. The Yuanjiang and Xiangjiang are two of the principal rivers draining into Dongting Lake in south-central China, an area historically rich in labeonine cyprinid diversity, including several other Discogobio species described from neighbouring drainages in Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi.
Specific water chemistry, current speed, substrate and elevation at the type locality were not accessible for this article. Species carrying a large adhesive disc, as this one does, are generally associated with clear, fast-flowing streams over rock or gravel, where the disc provides purchase against the current — a genus-level inference, not a documented habitat description for this species specifically.
Feeding
No dietary study specific to Discogobio acutusirostris has been published. The large mental adhesive disc and tuberculate snout that diagnose the species are structures shared broadly across the genus Discogobio and the wider labeonine tribe (which also includes Garra), and in related genera these are generally associated with grazing algae and biofilm off rock surfaces in fast-flowing water while also taking small invertebrates — a genus-level inference drawn from Discogobio and its relatives generally, not a finding reported for D. acutusirostris itself.
Mating
No courtship behaviour has been documented for Discogobio acutusirostris, and the primary description accessible for this article does not report sexual dimorphism or breeding tubercles distinct from the snout tubercles present in the species diagnosis. Reproductive behaviour has not been studied in this species.
Breeding
Discogobio acutusirostris has not been spawned or observed breeding in the wild, as far as published sources show. Cyprinids in general, including labeonine genera such as Discogobio, are typically egg-scattering broadcast spawners with no parental care — a family-level generalization, not a confirmed account of this species' reproductive biology.
In the aquarium
Discogobio acutusirostris is not established in the aquarium hobby and has no husbandry record; it was described only in 2026 from a single Chinese river system. The genus Discogobio as a whole is essentially absent from the aquarium trade, in contrast to some of its labeonine relatives — several Garra species, for example, are traded as algae-eaters — and there is no indication this species is collected or traded. Any care requirements would have to be inferred from its fast-water habitat and disc-bearing morphology rather than from direct experience.
Conservation
Discogobio acutusirostris has not been evaluated by the IUCN Red List, having been described only in 2026. Its documented range is limited to the Yuanjiang and Xiangjiang River drainages of the Dongting Lake system in Guizhou Province, China, and no population size, trend or threat data specific to the species were accessible for this article.