Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)

164 Phylum Vertebrata ly in Fertő. Wels were already rare before the drought of 1917 and died out, at least in the present territory of Hungary, thereafter. The occasional specimens still encountered very probably originate from Nagytómalom Lake.' On the earlier distribution of the weis (Silurus glanis), JÁNOS BÁRDOSI (1994) quotes lines by JÓZSEF KIS' (1797): 'Of weis, it is told that twelve years ago [i.e. in 1785], there was no word of weis in Fertő, until once a fish of 77 pounds caught in [the fishermen's] nets, to their great wonder. Not long after, another of 70 pounds was caught, and later ones of 80 and 90 pounds, than which they had never had the luck to catch bigger. They suspect they had come up the Ráptza [Repce] from the Danube, for in that year, Fertő was extremely high. Indeed, that conclusion of the fishermen is hard to deny: the reason they give may be true.' Several writings have dealt with the European eel (Anguilla anguilla), which sometimes appears in Fertő and the Sopron vicinity (VARGA 1934b; KIRÁLY 1938a). Stocking of Fertő began on the Austrian side in 1958, but only in 1962 on the Hungarian side (RIBIÁNSZKY 1963). Studies were made in the 1980s of the growth biology of the eel population in Fertő (PAULOVITS and BÍRÓ 1984 and 1986). Communications about the distribution and introduction of eel in Hungary can be found through the bibliography of KÁROLY PINTÉR (1984). According to FERENC MIKA and GYÖRGY BREUER, there are 24 species permanently in the waters of Fertő and the waters feeding it, while another 4 species occur occasionally (MIKA and BREUER 1928; MIKA 1933 and 1962; MIKA and VARGA 1940). On the subject of occasional fish, JÁNOS BÁRDOSI (1994) notes that sturgeon were caught in Fertő in the 16th century, and must certainly have arrived there from the Danube.

14 This also emerges from a letter written by MARKO MIKULICS to TAMÁS NÁDAS DY in 15 5 6, announcing that the roads had prevented him from reaching 'where the sturgeon go.'

15 Several shorter communications have also dealt with Fertő fishing and fish (HOMER 1933; VARGA 1944; MIKÓ 1970; MAAR 1975; GUTI 1990; KÜSCSÁN 1997). Tubenose gobies (Proterorhinus marmoratus) were first reported in Hungary in 1872, in the outlet of the Római 14 Unfortunately, it is not known which sturgeon species this could have been. The Russian sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedti colchicus), fringebarbel sturgeon (A. nudiventris) and starry sturgeon (A. stellatus) could all have occurred in the Danube up to Pozsony (Bratislava), especially before the Iron Gate dam was built in the 1890s. Since 1971, the Iron Gates dam has constituted a practically impenetrable barrier to migration of anadromous sturgeon species from the Black Sea towards the Carpathian Basin. However, Russian sturgeon are present in the Middle Danube all the year round, not just in the spawning season (end of April to mid-June) and the associated migration periods. It can be assumed, therefore, that the region contains a freshwater sub-population of non-anadromous sturgeon. See HOLCIK, J., I. BASTL, M. ERTL and M. VRANOWSKY 1981. Hydrobiology and ichthyology of the Czechoslovak Danube in relation to the predicted changes after the construction of the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros River Barrage System. Práce Laboratória Rybárstva a Hydrobiologie 3:19-158; GUTI, G. 1997. Vágótok (Acipenser gueldenstaedti) a Duna szigetközi szakaszán (Russian sturgeon in the Szigetköz section of the Hungarian Danube). Halászat 90:174-5; idem 1997. A Duna szigetközi szakaszának halfaunája (Fish fauna of the Szigetköz stretch of the Danube). Halászat 90:129-40; PINTÉR, К. 1991. Sturgeons in Hungary, past and present situation. In: WILLIOT, P. ed. Acipenser, 173-7. CEMAGREF Publications. 5 TAKÁCS, S. 1929. Emlékezzünk eleinkről (Let us Remember our Forebears). 594 pp. Budapest: Genius.