Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)
160 Phylum Vertebrata vidék: the European chub (Leuciscus cephalus), gudgeon (Gobio gobio), stone loach (Noemacheilus barbatulus), spined loach (Cobitis taenia) and Eurasian minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus —CSABA 1965b). ISTVÁN VÁSÁRHELYI (1961b) mentioned 22 species of fish in the Rába and 8 in the Zala. These data were presumably taken from HERMAN (1887). The fish fauna of the Hungarian stretch of the upper Rába is the subject of an unpublished paper by JÓZSEF ERNST (1977). All the 35 species mentioned are known to be present in the region except the Danubian longbarbel gudgeon (Gobio uranoscopus), which was probably Kesslers gudgeon (G. kessleri) (see VIDA 1997). A more comprehensive work is the article 'Ichthyofauna of the Rába' by ÁKOS HARKA (1992a). This gives records for 53 fish species from 16 locations along the Hungarian stretch of the river. The presence of large numbers of Eurasian minnows (Phoxinus phoxinus) in the Szakonyfalu Brook was confirmed by LÁSZLÓ VARGA (1991). Characteristic fish species in the streams flowing from the Vas Ridge into the planned Csörnöc Landscape Conservation Area are the spined loach (Cobitis taenia) and stone loach (Noemacheilus barbatulus), Eurasian minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus), European chub (Leuciscus cephalus) and gudgeon (Gobio gobio). The common dace (L. leuciscus) and chub (Albumoides bipunctatus) are also found in some stretches of the Csörnöc. Protected bass species —the schraetzer (Gymnocephalus schraetzer), zingel (Zingel zingel) and Danube stréber (Z. stréber)—can be described as still common. The River Pinka and Strém Brook have kept their mountain character, with occasional brown trout (Salmo trutta m. fario) found. The typical species in the Rába are the barbel (Barbus barbus), carp bream (Abramis brama) and asp (Aspius aspius), while backwaters also contain the crucian carp (Carassius carassius), brown bullhead (Ameiurus melas), tench (Tinea tinea) and occasional weatherfish (Misgurnus fossilis) (SZINETÁR and GYURÁCZ 1993; KERESZTESSY 1993a and 1993b). In a recent article on the Pinka, LÁSZLÓ LŐRINCZ (1995) began by mentioning the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), of which there has been no recent recorded occurrence in this country. A manuscript by KATALIN KERESZTESSY (1995b) cites 36 species occurring in the catchment areas of the West Hungarian border region, including 33 in the Rába, 14 in the Pinka, 7 in the Kerka, 10 in the Strém Brook, 4 in the Kis (probably the Grajka Brook), and 5 in the Marcal. ÁKOS HARKA and PÉTER JUHÁSZ (1996), in a record of ichthyofaunistic findings in the Zala, described occasional or regular occurrences of 32 fish species. ZOLTÁN SALLAI and KÁROLY GYÖRE (1997) studied three locations in the upper Zala, showing the occurrence of 11 species. One important finding was the presence of two specimens of the belica (Leucaspius delineatus), which had not been recorded in the river before. The authors studied the Rába at Alsószölnök, finding 9 species, as well as 12 each from the Kerca and Kerka. The border zone between Hungary and Austria was inaccessible for political reasons until 1989. Since then, specialists from Hungary and Burgenland have been cooperating to explore the ichthyofauna of the region, mainly in the watercourses. After the Rába catchment area, studies have extended north-
