O. G. Dely szerk.: Vertebrata Hungarica 2/1-2. (Budapest, 1960)
Berinkey, L.: The Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus Linneus), a new fish species from Hungary 1-10. o.
The jaws have teeth, missing from the vomer and the palatinum, The poettemporale and the supracleithrum are preeent. Five genera of the family are known. They live in seas or fresh waters in Europe, Algiers, North and Central Asia, and North America. In the Black Sea and its tributaries, the family Gaste- roeteidae is repreeented by one species each of two genera, namely Gaeteroeteus aculeatus LINNEUS, and Pungitiue platy- gaeter /KESSLER/. The two species can be separated easily by the uoe of the following key. 1 /2/ Two or three bony spines in front of dorsal fin. A conspicuous, protruding keel on both sides of stocky caudal peduncle Gasterosteus aculeatus LINNEUS 2 /1/ Seven to twelve bony spines in front of dorsal fin. No protruding keel on strikingly thin and naked caudal peduncle Pungitius platygaster /KESSLER/ It ie not in the scope of this paper to give a detailed account, and thus I confine myself to the remark that Gaste rosteus aculeatus has numerous varieties. BERTIN /5/ discusses 15 of them in his paper. The varieties had been based by the respective authors on the rate of the covering by the bony plates of the body, the number and legth of the spines before the dorsale, the length of the spine of the ventrale, the serration of the spines, and the shape of the body. The stickleback is a fish of small stature, its length 40-60 mm, rarely 80-90 mm. Its body is cylindrical, the head of a medium size, its length about 30 per cent of the standard length* The upper part of the head passes into the line of the back by a uniform rise, the back is almost completely straight between the first and the third spines, becoming declivous from the beginning of the dorsal fin. The dorsal fin is situated in the posterior half of the body, its end flush with the end of the anal fin. Its fin ray formula is: D. III. /9/ 10-14, A. I. /7/ 8-10 /11/, V. 1.1, P.
