 This fish was long believed to be part of the widespread Spined Loach ("C. taenia").Cladistic analysis of DNA sequence data (nDNA RAG-1 and S7 ribosomal protein intron 1, and mtDNA cytochrome "b") confirms that it is properly treated as full species.It belongs to a group including "C. bilineata", "C. dalmatina" and an undescribed species from the Bosnian-Croatian border region.