A recent paper on the composition and health of fish in refugia habitats in seasonal tributaries of the Zambezi River in southern Africa contains several errors. These include the misidentification of species and a misunderstanding of the zoogeography of the Zambezi River. There were also several weaknesses in the data analysis and some conclusions were based on misinterpretations of their own data and the literature. The authors should have considered regional literature and worked with southern African ichthyologists to prevent these errors.