Maurice Kottelat Explained

Maurice Kottelat (born 16 July 1957^[1] in Delémont, Switzerland^[2]) is a Swiss ichthyologist specializing in Eurasian freshwater fishes.

Kottelat obtained a License in Sciences at the University of Neuchâtel in 1987^[3] and in 1989 a doctoral degree from the University of Amsterdam. In 1980 he went to Thailand where he began his field research on Southeast Asian and Indonesian fresh water fishes.^[3] In 1997 he wrote an important revision on the genus Coregonus, which includes the fish species from Lake Geneva, Lake Constance and other lakes in Switzerland.^[4] Together with Dr. Tan Heok Hui he worked in Sumatra, where they discovered Paedocypris progenetica, which is considered the smallest fish in the world.^[5] In 2007 he published a Handbook of European Freshwater Fishes together with Jörg Freyhof. Kottelat has described more than 440 fish species new to science.^[6]

In 2006 he was awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa degree at the University of Neuchâtel.^[7] Kottelat is the former (1997–2007) and present (2012–present) president of the European Ichthyological Society. He is a commissioner of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. For most of his career, he has held no academic position but worked as a "freelance taxonomist".

Publications (selected)

• 1990 Maurice Kottelat: Indochinese Nemacheilines, a revision of nemacheiline loaches (Pisces: Cypriniformes) of Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and southern Viet Nam. 180 text-figures. 8vo, pp. 262^[8]
• 1996 Maurice Kottelat & Tony Whitten: Freshwater Biodiversity in Asia: With Special Reference to Fish^[9]
• 1997 Maurice Kottelat: European Freshwater fishes. An heuristic checklist of the freshwater fishes of Europe (exclusive of former USSR), with an introduction for non-systematists and comments on nomenclature and conservation. Biologia (Bratislava) Sect. Zool., 52 (Suppl.):1-271.
• 1997 Maurice Kottelat: Freshwater Fishes of Western Indonesia and Sulawesi^[9]
• 1998 Maurice Kottelat: Fishes of Brazil - An Aid to the Study of Spix and Agassiz's (1829-31) Selecta Genera et Species Piscium Brasiliensium Including an English Translation of the Entire Text by V.L. Wirasinha and Reproduction of all Illustrations
• 1998 Maurice Kottelat: Fishes of the Nam Theun and Xe Bangfai basins, Laos, with diagnoses of twenty-two new species (Teleostei: Cyprinidae, Balitoridae, Cobitidae, Coiidae and Odontobutidae). Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwat. 9(1):1-128.
• 2001 Maurice Kottelat : Fishes of Laos
• 2001 Maurice Kottelat: Freshwater fishes of Northern Vietnam: A preliminary check-list of the fishes known or expected to occur in Northern Vietnam : with comments on systematics and nomenclature
• 2007 Maurice Kottelat & Jörg Freyhof: Handbook of European Freshwater Fishes Published by the authors.
• 2012 Maurice Kottelat: Conspectus cobitidum: an inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei) Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement 26: 1–199.
• 2013 Maurice Kottelat: The fishes of inland waters of Southeast Asia: a catalogue and core bibliography of the fishes known to occur in freshwaters, mangroves and estuaries. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement 27: 1–663.

Taxa described by him

• See

Taxa named in his honor

• Exostoma kottelati Darshan, Vishwanath, Abujam & Das, 2019^[10]
• The monospecific genus Kottelatia Liao, Kullander & Fang, 2010^[11]
• The genus Kottelatlimia Nalbant, 1994^[12]
• Monodactylus kottelati Pethiyagoda, 1991^[13]
• Neogastromyzon kottelati Tan, 2006^[14]
• Oxynoemacheilus kottelati Turan, Aksu, Güçlü & Kalayci, 2024^[15]
• Rasbora kottelati K. K. P. Lim, 1995^[11]
• Salmo kottelati Turan, Doğan, Kaya, & Kanyılmaz, 2014 is named after him.^[16]
• Schistura kottelati Ho, Hoang & Ngo, 2018^[15]
• Squalius kottelati (Karaman, 1972) ^[17]
• Tondanichthys kottelati Collette, 1995^[18]

Notes and References

1. Kraig Adler: Contributions to Herpetology, Volume 3, 2012
2. https://www.iczn.org/about-the-iczn/commissioners/maurice-kottelat/ Commissioners: Dr Maurice Kottelat
3. Virginie Borel . Maurice Kottelat: des centaines d’espèces de poissons dans ses filets . Unicité . Universite de Neuchatel . 33 . 27–29 . July 2006 . fr .
4. Maurice Kottelat: "European Freshwater fishes. An heuristic checklist of the freshwater fishes of Europe (exclusive of former USSR), with an introduction for non-systematists and comments on nomenclature and conservation". Biologia (Bratislava) Sect. Zool., 52 (Supplement):271 pp
5. Maurice Kottelat, Ralf Britz, Heok Hui Tan, Kai-Erik Witte, 2005. "Paedocypris, a new genus of Southeast Asian cyprinid fish with a remarkable sexual dimorphism, comprises the world's smallest vertebrate." Proceedings of the Royal Society B 10.1098/rspb.2005.3419.
6. http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/news/index.php?entry=/bejc/20060330-kottelat.txt Raffles Museum news - "2400 years of Ichthyology, but an inventory still far from complete."
7. http://www2.unine.ch/unine/page-13388.html Dies academicus 4 novembre 2006
8. http://www.zoobank.org/?id=urn:lsid:zoobank.org:author:1523BBCA-05D2-4167-A98A-899020ADEF7C Zoobank
9. http://siris-libraries.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1240W6M645L76.136476&profile=liball&uri=link=3100006~!670922~!3100001~!3100002&aspect=subtab103&menu=search&ri=2&source=~!silibraries&term=Kottelat%2C+Maurice&index= Library Catalog Smithsonian Institution Libraries
10. Web site: Family SISORIDAE Bleeker 1858 (Hillstream Catfishes) . 13 August 2024 . Christopher Scharpf . Kenneth J. Lazara . amp . The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database . Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara . 7 June 2024.
11. Web site: Family DANIONIDAE: Bleeker 1863 (Danios) . 13 August 2024 . Christopher Scharpf . Kenneth J. Lazara . amp . The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database . Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara . 30 April 2024.
12. Web site: Family COBITIDAE Swainson 1838 (Loaches) . 13 August 2024 . Christopher Scharpf . Kenneth J. Lazara . amp . The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database . Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara . 16 July 2024.
13. Web site: Order ACANTHURIFORMES (part 3): Families CALLANTHIIDAE, DINOPERCIDAE, EMMELICHTHYIDAE, MALACANTHIDAE, MONODACTYLIDAE, MORONIDAE, SILLAGINIDAE, PRIACANTHIDAE and CEPOLIDAE . 13 August 2024 . Christopher Scharpf . Kenneth J. Lazara . amp . The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database . Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara . 9 May 2024 . v. 3.0.
14. Web site: Family NEMACHEILIDAE Regan 1911 (Stone or Brook Loaches) . 13 August 2024 . Christopher Scharpf . Kenneth J. Lazara . amp . The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database . Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara . 25 June 2024.
15. Web site: Family GASTROMYZONTIDAE Fowler 1905 (Torrent or Sucker Loaches) . 13 August 2024 . Christopher Scharpf . Kenneth J. Lazara . amp . The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database . Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara . 24 April 2024.
16. Web site: Order SALMONIFORMES . 11 April 2022 . Christopher Scharpf . Kenneth J. Lazara . amp . The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database . Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara . 22 September 2018.
17. Web site: Family LEUCISCIDAE: Subfamily LEUCISCINAE Bonaparte 1835 (European Minnows) . 13 August 2024 . Christopher Scharpf . Kenneth J. Lazara . amp . The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database . Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara . 25 January 2024.
18. Web site: Order BELONIFORMES (Needlefishes) . 13 August 2024 . Christopher Scharpf . Kenneth J. Lazara . amp . The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database . Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara . 3 August 2024 . v. 11.0.