Taxonomy & naming
Described by He Shunping in 1996. The type locality is Daojieba, Baoshan County, Yunnan Province, China. It is a valid species in the Catalog of Fishes. The epithet is Greek: dolichos (long) and nema (thread), for the long barbels.
Morphology
A Gagata catfish with a flattened head, long thread-like barbels and spined dorsal and pectoral fins. FishBase gives a maximum of 5 in SL.
Habitat
FishBase lists the upper Salween basin in China and the Irrawaddy, Salween and Tenasserim basins in Myanmar, and classes it as a freshwater benthopelagic fish.
Feeding
A benthic carnivore-omnivore by genus default; no species-specific data.
Mating
Mating behaviour is not documented for Gagata dolichonema in the sources available to the atlas. Sexes cannot be separated reliably from the information available.
Breeding
No spawning or breeding record is known to the atlas.
In the aquarium
Rare in the hobby. Treat it as a flowing-water bottom dweller needing clean, oxygenated water and small foods; keep with peaceful tankmates.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List assessed Gagata dolichonema as Least Concern in 2009. Hillstream fishes are sensitive to siltation, damming and altered flow.