It is currently known from 12 locations in the wet zone including Beraliya, Dombagaskandha, Madakada, Gilimale, Hiyare, Kottawa, Kanneliya, Weddagala, Nakiyadeniya, Pahiyangala and Boralugoda.

Due to its restricted range and the threats to its habitat Lepidocephalichthys jonklaasi, is listed as an Endangered species.

Named in honor of Rodney Jonklaas (1925–1989), a Sri Lankan diver who was an underwater photographer and also a zoo administrator.

These fish have an ancillary respiratory mechanism where they swallow air, which is then used to oxygenate the blood that passes through the walls of the intestines.

This enables them to survive in very poorly oxygenated water although in Sri Lanka, by and large, they occur in habitats that do not require this facility and are not generally considered as "air breathers".

Lepidocephalichthys jonklaasi is distinguished from L. furcatus, L. micropogon, L. manipurensis, and L. goalparensis by rounded/truncated (vs. forked) caudal fin, from L. irrorata and L. kranos by absence of scales on top of head, from L. guntea, L. hasselti, L. tomaculum, L. alkaia, and L. annandalei by broad regularly spaced dark bars (vs. reticulations, spots, or stripe) on caudal fin, from L. thermalis, L. arunachalensis, L. coromandelensis, and L. berdmorei by vertically elongated, dark spots on side that form irregular, thin bars (vs. round spots that sometimes form squares or thin stripe), and from L. lorentzi by thinner, more irregularly spaced dark side bars, dorsal-fin origin anterior (vs. posterior) to pelvic-fin origin, and larger size (to 45 vs. 33 mm SL), (Havird & Page 2010).

They are easily differentiated by body shape and proportions, colour pattern, and form of sexual dimorphism that is unique to L.

It is not easily confused with L. thermalis owing to its distinctive colour pattern and robust, tubular body.

Daraniyagala 1956, and De Silva 1963, observed that the last pectoral fin ray was ossified in some specimens, but did not consider this as a secondary sexual character.

The locus typicus is Wilpita Estate near Akuressa in the southern wet zone of Sri Lanka, 500m above sea level.

Lepidocephalichthys jonklaasi is too rare to be of value to the aquarium fish trade which, in any case, exports large numbers of the superficially very similar L. thermalis.