Maurice Kottelat

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

Kottelat obtained a License in Sciences at the University of Neuchâtel in 1987 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. Together with Dr. Tan Heok Hui he worked in Sumatra, where they discovered Paedocypris progenetica, which is considered the smallest fish in the world. 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.

In 2006 he was awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa degree at the University of Neuchâtel. Kottelat is the former (1997–2007) and present (2012–present) president of the European Ichthyological Society. 1996 Maurice Kottelat & Tony Whitten: Freshwater Biodiversity in Asia: With Special Reference to Fish 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. The monospecific genus Kottelatia Liao, Kullander & Fang, 2010 The genus Kottelatlimia Nalbant, 1994 Monodactylus kottelati Pethiyagoda, 1991 Neogastromyzon kottelati Tan, 2006 Oxynoemacheilus kottelati Turan, Aksu, Güçlü & Kalayci, 2024 Rasbora kottelati K. K. P. Lim, 1995 Schistura kottelati Ho, Hoang & Ngo, 2018 Tondanichthys kottelati Collette, 1995