VERTEBRATA HUNGARICA MUSEI HISTORICO-NATURALIS HUNGARlCl 9 m 11 1960. Fase. 1. Ichthyological Notes I. By L. Berinkey Zoological Department of the Hungarian National Museum, Budapest In the present paper,i publish some rare or interesting faunistical data, - resulting from recent collectinge - to make a further step in our knowledge of the fauna of the Danube. Coregonus lavaretus maraena /BLOCH/ The Pishing Cooperative of Vác forwarded an unknown fish to the Museum. I t was a Coregonus. These fish speciee live in Northern and Central Europe, North Asia and North America. When identifying the fish, I found that i t belongs to the Coregonua lavaretus-group and is in all probability its subspecies maraena. This fish was never yet caught in the Danube. The maraenas excel in their high grade variabil i t y, with 92 known forms of the lavaretus-group. This group is characterised by an inferior mouth, the upper jaw protruding above the lower one. The upper jaw does not extend backwards over the vertical line of the anterior margin of the eyes. The number of the scales of the lateral line varies between 84-100. The number of the raye of the dorsal fin is III-IV. 9-13, that of the anal fin III-IV. 11-14. The number of vertebrae is 53-62. There are 16-48 spinae branchiales.
The species favour cold waters, rich in oxygen. They are to be found in Northern Europe and the environs of the Alps, with a special form in almost every lake. The locality datum of the Hungarian specimen are: Vác, Danube, 21 June 1960, leg. J. MATKOVICS, inventory Nr. 60.144.1. I t is characteristical of the subspecies Coregonus lavaretus maraena /BLOCH/ that the number of its branchial spines lies between 29-34, i t has a large body, reaching a length of 1 m and a weight ef seme 10 kg. The standard length of the specimen examined by me is 16,4 cm, the number of the scales of its lateral line 91, that of the rays of the dorsal fin I I I. 10, of the anal fin I I I. 12. I t has 29 branchial spines. Its body is elongated, flattened laterally, its greatest height is 24,8 % of the standard length /all further values are given in percents of the standard length/, its greatest width 8,4 %. Its head is rather small, its length 21.3 5t, its breadth 10,2 % t its height 14,3 %. The upper jaw extends eomewhat over the lower one, reaching backwards to the line of the anterior margin of the eyes. The eye is rather big, its diameter ie 25,7 % of the length of the head /the measurements of the parte of the head are given in percents of the length of the head/. The preorbltal distance is 29,7 %, the postorbital one 48,5 %, the interorbital one 28,5 %. The dorsal fin is short and high; its base 11,1 %, its height 20,0 %; i t commences before the middle of the body; the predorsal distance is 46 %. The ventral fin begins somewhat before the end of the dorsal one, Its length is 14.4 %, the preventral distance 48,5 %. The adipose fin is situated a bit before the end of the anal fin. The anal fin is short and low, its base 10,8 %, its height 12,8 %. The caudal peduncle is short, its length 15,8 %, its smallest height 8,10 %. The caudal fin is rather long and strongly incised. The scales are minute. The lateral line is complete.stretching from the head to the caudal fin in an almost straight line. There is an edge covered by scales, running
from the ventral fine to the aperture of the snalib. Coregonus lavaretus maraena /BLOCH/ lives in the MadUsee in Pomerania. Owing to its many advantageous features, i t wab introduced from there into several localities. There may be two explanations of the problem of its appearance in the reach at Vác of the Danube. The Balaton Pishing Company imported more than one million Coregonus albula LINNÉ spawns from Poland in 1958 and 1959, letting the fishes out, after hatching, into the Balaton. Therefore one, and, I may add, the less plausible, explanation is that the spawns, or at least some of them, imported from Poland, were not Coregonus albula LINNÉ, and that a part of the brood placed in the Balaton reached the Danube by way of the Sió Channel. The other, and more probable, explanation is that the fish arrived in the Danube from a country adjacent to Hungary, possibly from Czechoslovakia. SIMEK /11/ states in his book that Coregonus lavaretus maraena /BLOCH/ was successfully introduced in the lakes of Southern Czechoslovakia, they multiplied suitably, and then, for many years, specimens were placed out into free waters too. And from the rivers of Southern Czechoslovakia, the species might easily have reached the Danube. In my opinion,this is the most plausible explication of its occurrence in Hungary. Also, I have to point out an erroneous datum in SIMEK's book /p. 119-120/, namely that Coregonus lavaretus maraena /BLOCH/ originates from the Lake Tchud /originally Lake Peipus/. Rightly, the species lives in Lake Madii, while i t is Coregonus lavaretus maraenoideb POLIAKOW which is indigenous in Lake Tchud, In every case, the occurrence of the species in the Danube is a most interesting ichthyo-faunistical datum. Salmo trutta m. fario LINNÉ I t is well-known that the brook trout is a typical inhabitant of the rapid, cold water, oxygen-rich mountain brooks, of the socalled trout-level. I t occurs sometimes,
though rarely, that epecimene can be met with far from the ueual habitats of the specieb. In the annihilated ICHTHYOLO- GICA1 COLLECTION OF THE HUNGARIAN NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, there was a specimen collected in the Tisza, at Szeged, on 14 March 1918. In the 'thirties, both the brook and the rainbow /Salmo irideua GIBB./ troute were captured several times in the Balaton. Thua, A.SZABADOS /12/ mentions a Salmo irideus specimen caught at Tihany /8 June 1937/, K. LUKÁCS /7/ a Salmo trutta fario from between Szárszó and Szemes, in January 1938 /this specimen was given to the ICHTHYOLOGICAL COLLECTION OF THE HUNGARIAN NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM/, and the same author /8/ also states that a Salmo Irideus was captured at eaiacbony in February 1938, and a brook trout from Keszthely i ~-y*e beginning of the same month. The explanation of thsi pelativeijf^requent occurrence of the two trout species in thfbalaton is the fact that, at that time, both fish had been bred in the fisheries of Csopak and Lesencetomaj, from where they have reached the Balaton indubitably by the Nosztor, that is, the Lesence, brooks. VUTSKITS /15/, who compiled the chapter on fishes for the FAUNA REGNI HUNGÁRIÁÉ, did not list Salmo trutta m.fario from the Danube, and, ae far ae I know, this species had not been shown from this river yet. Its occurrence in the Hungarian reaches of the Danube is in any case a real rarity. A specimen was found luckily, when looking over the haul of fishermen on 1 April I960. At this time, they were working the reach between Zebegény and Visegrád. The brook trout, caught in their net, found its way into the ICHTHYOLOGICAL COLLECTION OF THE HUNGARIAN NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM. Cottus goblo LINNÉ Cottus gobjo is also an inhabitant of the trout-level, but i t also occurs at lower gradée. Thus, i t was &hown also from the Hungarian reaches of the Danube, but, according to our present informations,it is a rare species here. VUTSKITS
/15/, listing its occurrence at Komárom and Zimcny, writes, on the authority of HERMAN /5/,as Pollowe: In Duna rarissime occurrit etiam ad Komárom". Four specimens from the Danube had been preserved in the ICHTHYOLOGICAL COLLECTION OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, originating from the following local i t i e s: A p a t i n, November 1916, 1 specimen, l e g. :E.UNGER - G3- nyii, 24 September 1934. 1 specimen, leg.:e. DUDICH;Budapest, the upper end of the Margit Island, 27 October 1957, 1 specimen, leg.: L. FURIA; Budapest, the upper end cf the Margit Island, October 1957, 1 specimen, leg.: F.SOMOGYI. I t is interesting to note that all collecting data originate from the autumn /September-November/. That the bullhead is not as rare in the Danube as is shown also by the above data, and that its successful collecting in this river depends on special water levels in accordance with the habits of the species, is further substantiated by ths collectings made at the time of the extraordinarily low water levels during the autumn of 1959 and the early spring of I960. During these few months, 41 specimens were collected in the reach of the Danube between Vác and Budapest, in the small watery pits along the shore and under stones.the data of theee are as follows: specimens Budapest, Hajógyár Island, 15 Oct.1959,2 spec.leg.:v.wolsky. Vác, 22 Oct. 1959, 3 spec, leg.: J.KATKOVICS. Vác, 24-25 Nov. 1959. 1 spec, leg.: J.MATKOVICS. Vác, 7-11 Dec. 1959, 26 spec, leg.: J.MATKOVICS. Vác, 24-25 March I960, 2 spec, leg.: J.MATKOVICS. Vác, 22 April I960, 7 spec, leg.: J.MATKOVICS. On the basis of mass collectings like the above ones, one may conclude that the occurrence in the Danube of this species is not a rarity, but rather a low water leve) suitable for its capture is only seldom met with.
Ichthyologiai jegyzetek I. Irta: Berinkey László Természettudományi Múzeum, Budapest Szerző jelen munkájában az utóbbi idők gyűjtéseiből származó, érdekesebb faunisztikai adatokat közöl a Dunából. 1. / A Duna váci szakaszán a Coregonus lavaretus maraena /BLOCH/ egy példányára akadtak. Arra a kérdésre, hogy e halfaj honnan kerülhetett a Dunába, a szerző szerint, kétféle magyarázat jöhet számitásba. Miután a Balatoni Halászati Vállalat az elmúlt években Lengyelországból egy millfónál több Coregonus albula LINNÉ ivadékot telepitett a Balatonba, igy feltételezhető, hogy a szállítmányban tévedésből nagy maréna ikra is keveredett, s igy a szóbanforgó halivadék a Balatonból, a Sió csatornán keresztül juthatott el a Dunába. Valószínűbbnek tartja azonban, hogy a Dél-Csehországi szabad vizekbe több éven át telepitett nagy marénak közül került a fogott példány a Dunába. 2. / A Salmo trutta m.fario LINNÉ /sebes pisztráng/ r i t kán tipikus élőhelyétől távoli helyeken is megtalálható. Igy az irodalom alapján ismeretes a Tiszából /Szegednél/,s több esetben észleltek már mind a sebes, mind a szivárványon pisztrángot a Balatonban is. Ide, minden valószinüaég szerint a szomszédos csopaki és lesencetomaji tógazdaságokból kerültek a halak, hol abban az időben mindkét fajt tenyésztették. A FAUNA REGNI HUNGÁRIÁÉ a sebes pisztrángot a Dunából nem emliti, s innen, a szerző tudomása szerint azóta sincs
kimutatva. I960. IV. 1.-én a Duna Zebegény-ViBegrád közötti szakaszán sikerült egy példányát megtalálni. E halfaj dunai előfordulása mindenképen ritkaságnak mondható. 3./ Cottus gobio LINNÉ /botos kölönte/ az irodalom adatai szerint a Duna magyarországi szakaszán ritkának nevezhető halfajnak számitott. Hogy nem is olyan ritka, a eredményes gyűjtése a Dunában, e faj életmódjából következő különleges vízállást viszonyoktól függ, azt bizonyítják az 1959. őszi ée I960, koratavaszi rendkívüli alacsony vízállás idején történt gyűjtések. E rövid pár hónap alatt ugyanis a Duna Budapest-Véc közötti szakaszán e faj 41 példányát sike rült begyűjteni a partmenti kis gödrökben és a kövek alatt. R e f e r e n c e s 1. BADE, E.: Die mitteleuropäischen Süsswasserfische /Stuttgart, 1902, 1-2. pp. 182, 176, spec. 2. p. 26-41/. - 2. BAUCH, G.: Die einheimischen Süsswasserfische /Berlin, 1955, pp. 200. spec. p. 144-153/. - 3. BERG, L.S.: Ubersicht der Verbreitung der Süsswasserflache Europas /Zoogeographica 1. 1933, p, 107-208, spec. p.120-131/. - 4. BERG, L.S.: Ryby presznich vod C.C.C.P. i szopredelitelni Bztran /Moszkva- Leningrad, 1949, pp.1381. spec. p.313-421/. - 5. HERMAN, o.: A Magyar Halászat Könyve /Budapest, 1887, 1-2. pp.860, spec, p. 677-678/. - 6. KELLER, 0.: Sebespisztráng a keszthelyi ö- bölben /Pótfüzetek a Természettud. Közlönyhöz,Budapest,1939, p.36-37/. - 7. LUKÁCS, K.: Sebespisztráng a Balatonban /Halászat, 1938, p.17/. - 8. LUKÁCS, K.: Szivárványos pisztráng a Balatonban /Halászat, 1933, p.25-26/. - 9. MIHÁLYI,P.: Reviaion der Süsswasserfische von Ungarn und der angrenzenden Gebieten in der Sammlung der Ungarischen Naturwissenschaften
Museums /Ann. hist.-net. Mus. Nat. Hung. 1954, 5.p.433-4i>6/. - 10. SIEBOLD, Th.; Die Süsswasserfische von Mitteleuropa /Leipzig, 1863. pp. 430. spec. p. 239-266/. - 11. SIMEK, Z.i Rybaretvi na tekoncich vodách /Praha, 1954, pp.442, spec. p. 119-121/. - 12. SZABADOS, A.: Pisztráng a Balatonban /Halászat, 1937, p.82-84/. - 13. TÖLG, I. : A kis marénak további sorsáról /Halászat, 1958, p. 124/. - 14. TÖLG, I. : Az idén is kelnek kis marénak Tihanyban /Halászat, 1959, p. 67/. - 15. VUTSKITS, Gy.: Pisces /in Magyar Birodalom Állatvilága/ /Budapest, 1918, p. 1-42/.