Abstract: The purpose of this paper was to study the morphological characteristics and biochemical genetics characteristics of Xenocypris davidi and to provide a theoretical basis for germplasm identification. A traditional morphological observation method was used to determine the measurable and countable traits of the 74 fish samples. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and malate dehydrogenase (MDH) expressed in five tissues (heart, eye lens, muscle, liver and kidney) from Xenocypris davidi was analyzed by vertical polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The major morphological characteristics of the Xenocypris davidi were shown as follows:sharp smaller head, hypognathous type, lower jaw with developed horn edge. There was a short strip of pelvic scutes before the anus which adjacent to the anal fin. A pale-yellow plaque was on the back of the operculum. The back of the dorsal fin presented yellow. Pectoral fin and ventral fin presented pale-yellow, and tail fin was saffron yellow. The fin formula was dorsal fin D.Ⅲ-7 and anal fin was A.ⅲ-9-11, and dental formula of the pharyngeal dentition presented 2·4·6/6·4·2. The number of spines was 36~41. The first lateral arch on left side was 44~52. The numbers of LDH bands in heart, eye lens, muscle, liver and kidney of the Xenocypris davidi were 6, 6, 3-4, 7 and 5-8, respectively, and the numbers of MDH bands in the four tissues were 4-7, 0-3, 3-4, 3-4 and 2-3, respectively. Additionally, MDH isozymes that expressed in heart and muscle tissues were divided into supernatant type (s-MDH) and mitochondria type (m-MDH). These two kinds of isozymes system in Xenocypris davidi possessed tissue specificity. The LDH isozymes in eye lens can be used to identify Xenocypris davidi as the biochemical genetic marker.