Fish caught by dipper

Igor asked in a comment on "Dipper catching fish. Khovd, 3 NOV 2007”:
"Is the fish Nemachelius (Barbatula) toni or something like?"

I asked Maurice Kottelat, specialist on the fishes of Mongolia about his opinion. Here's his answer:

“Axel,
From the photograph I can not objectively identify the fish, but from the locality and the raw appearance it is Barbatula compressirostris.
Best wishes
Maurice”

Maurice has published an authoritative book on the fishes of Mongolia:

Fishes of Mongolia
September 2006 (text from World Bank website):

Many development projects have an impact on the freshwaters of Mongolia, yet these ecosystems are poorly known. This report, funded by the Netherlands-Mongolia Trust Fund for Environmental Reform, provides an up-to-date, reliable and comprehensive list of Mongolian fish, which will be of fundamental importance for environmental impact assessments.

The report finds a total of 76 fish species are reliably recorded in Mongolia's waters, five of which may be new to science. Five species are often reported as being present in Mongolia, but are in fact only presumed to exist and should be deleted from the Mongolian faunal lists.

Four other species are introduced species that have not been sighted for years and presumably did not become established, while further two are introduced species that have become established. Nine species are known from immediately adjacent waters in China and Russia and might be present, either as permanent ihabitants or vagrant individuals.

The work is based on a review of the existing literature, interviews with local and international experts, examination of material preserved in natural history museums and research institutes in Beijing, Wuhan, St. Petersburg, Berlin Stockholm, and Paris, and supplementary fieldwork in western and central Mongolia.

The author, Maurice Kottelat, has applied his unparalleled knowledge of the fish of the region to write this critical analysis.

The full report (2.1MB, PDF) can be downloaded here.