Rhyacoschistura is a genus of small loaches (family Nemacheilidae, the stone loaches) whose name -- built from the Greek word for torrent -- points to its preferred habitat of fast, well-oxygenated hill streams. The atlas's two species, R. larreci and R. manipurensis, are recorded from India and Laos respectively, with R. manipurensis apparently named for Manipur, a hill state in northeastern India. Like other nemacheilids, they share an elongate, cylindrical body, a flattened head, and an underslung mouth adapted for browsing algae and invertebrates off stream substrate, along with a build that helps them hold position against strong current.
At roughly 2.5–3.5 in, both species are modestly sized, bottom-dwelling fish with essentially no presence in the aquarium trade -- torrent-adapted stone loaches from restricted hill-stream ranges rarely reach hobbyist channels, and specific husbandry information for this genus is not well documented. Conservation status splits between Not Evaluated and Near Threatened, a combination that fits a poorly surveyed genus restricted to fast-flowing habitats that are often the first to be altered by damming or water diversion in hill country.