Taxonomy & naming
Enteromius teugelsi was described by Bamba, Vreven and Snoeks in 2011 in the journal Zootaxa, originally as Barbus teugelsi. The type specimen — holotype MNHN 2010-0977 — was collected from the Mongo River at Marela, near the bridge on the road between Faranah and Mamou, in the Little Scarcies River basin, Guinea (10°06'N, 11°24'W). The Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer, CAS) records the current valid name as Enteromius teugelsi.
The generic transfer from Barbus to Enteromius followed two independent phylogenetic revisions: Yang et al. (2015) and Hayes and Armbruster (2017), both of which reorganised the African 'small barb' assemblage previously lumped under Barbus sensu lato. Enteromius as currently circumscribed is placed in the family Cyprinidae, subfamily Smiliogastrinae. The species epithet honours a person (Teugels), following a standard ichthyological eponymy tradition; the specific honoree is not detailed in the accessible cache material.
The parenthetical authority — (Bamba, Vreven & Snoeks, 2011) — signals that the species was moved to a different genus from the one used in the original description, per standard zoological nomenclature. FishBase records the species under ID 66239.
Morphology
Enteromius teugelsi is a small ray-finned fish with the typical laterally compressed, moderately deep body of the genus. The species is distinguished within its immediate species group by two diagnostic characters: a lower total number of gill rakers on the first gill arch (3–6) compared with closely related Enteromius species, and the possession of conspicuously long barbels.
Beyond these diagnostic traits the detailed morphometric data published in the original description have not been widely repeated in accessible secondary literature. Size data are not recorded in the cache material, and a precise maximum total length cannot be confirmed here without risk of fabrication. Given the genus and the small-river habitat, the species is almost certainly a small barb, in keeping with the general size range of Enteromius across West Africa.
Habitat
The species is known from the Little Scarcies River basin of Guinea, West Africa. The Little Scarcies (also called the Kaba River) rises in the Fouta Djallon highlands of Guinea and flows west into Sierra Leone before reaching the Atlantic Ocean near Freetown. The basin covers approximately 18,497 mi², with a high average discharge. The lower courses of the river are periodically invaded by saline Atlantic water; Enteromius teugelsi is a freshwater species and occurs in the upper, freshwater sections of the system.
The type locality — the Mongo River near Marela — is an upland tributary in the Guinea portion of the basin. West African savanna and transitional forest streams of this kind are typically warm, moderately shallow systems with seasonal variation in flow, with substrates of sand, gravel, and leaf-covered margins. Chemistry details specific to the Mongo River at the type locality are not documented in the available sources.
Feeding
No published dietary data for Enteromius teugelsi were located in the available sources. By inference from the feeding biology of comparable small Enteromius species in West African river systems, the species is likely a generalist omnivore, taking small invertebrates, organic detritus, algae, and plant material from the substrate and water column — the dominant feeding strategy across the genus.
The long barbels noted as a diagnostic character may assist in locating food along the river bottom, a trait consistent with benthic foraging in turbid or fast-flowing sections of the Mongo River.
Mating
No species-specific mating data are available for Enteromius teugelsi. Barbs in the genus Enteromius, like cyprinids generally, are egg-scattering, non-guarding spawners. There is no pair bond, no territory held beyond the brief act of courtship, and no parental care of any kind.
In related species, spawning is typically triggered by seasonal rises in water level and temperature, with males pursuing gravid females through vegetation or over sandy substrates. Eggs and milt are released simultaneously, and the adhesive eggs settle among plants or onto the bottom where adults take no further interest in them.
Breeding
No captive breeding records for Enteromius teugelsi appear in the accessible literature or hobby sources. The species is not established in the aquarium trade. Its reproductive biology is inferred from the uniform egg-scattering pattern of the family: females scatter adhesive eggs over plants or substrate, fertilised externally by a driving male, and both parents ignore the eggs thereafter.
Given that the species is a West African stream barb from a relatively inaccessible type locality in Guinea, it is unlikely to have been bred in captivity as of the time of writing. Any future captive work would follow the same general approach used for other small African barbs — conditioning with live foods, soft warm water, fine-leaved plant cover, and removal of adults after spawning.
In the aquarium
Enteromius teugelsi is not a species encountered in the aquarium trade. It was described only in 2011 from a remote Guinea river basin, and no commercial collection or captive propagation has been documented in the available sources.
For researchers or specialist collectors who might work with wild material, the species' preference for the freshwater reaches of a West African upland tributary suggests it would do best in a well-oxygenated aquarium with moderate flow, a substrate of fine sand or gravel, and water conditions reflecting a warm tropical savanna stream — broadly neutral to slightly soft water in the mid-twenties Celsius. These parameters are inferred from the habitat and are not based on aquarium trial data.
Conservation
Enteromius teugelsi has not been assessed by the IUCN Red List. The species appears to have a narrow confirmed range — the Mongo River tributary of the Little Scarcies basin in Guinea — based on the type locality data, though the full extent of its distribution within the basin is unknown.
The Little Scarcies River basin faces the pressures common to West African river systems: agricultural expansion, artisanal mining (particularly alluvial diamond and gold extraction in Guinea), seasonal water extraction, and general watershed degradation. The lower reaches of the river are also affected by Atlantic saline intrusion. Until the species is surveyed across the basin and formally assessed, its conservation status and population trend remain unknown. Its small known range, recent description, and lack of hobby interest mean it has received minimal conservation attention to date.