Scissortail Rasbora Identification Guide

Key identification features

• Elongated, silvery, laterally compressed body reaching up to 15 cm, larger than most common rasboras
• Three faint dark longitudinal lines running along the length of the body
• Deeply forked tail fin with bold black-and-white margins along each lobe
• The tail's contrasting edges appear to open and close like a pair of scissors as the fish swims, giving the species its name
• Slim head with a small, slightly upturned mouth suited to surface and midwater feeding

Common look-alikes

• Harlequin Rasbora: much smaller, with a solid black wedge-shaped patch on the rear body and no scissoring tail pattern.
• Other Rasbora species: generally lack the two-tone black-and-white lobe edges on the tail that make the Scissortail distinctive.
• Silver Rasbora species: share a similar plain silvery body but have a uniformly colored, non-forked or simply forked tail without contrasting margins.

Where you'll see one

This species is native to slow rivers, swamps, and blackwater streams across Sumatra, Borneo, and the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia, typically schooling in open water over sandy or muddy bottoms.