The Ukrainian stickleback (''Pungitius platygaster'') also known as the Caspian ninespine stickleback, southern ninespine stickleback, and Aral ninespine stickleback, is a species of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

in the family Gasterosteidae. It is found in

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Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

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, and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

(Black Sea, Sea of Azov, Aral Sea and Caspian Sea basins). A combination of two characters: lack of caudal peduncle keel, presence of large lateral scutes. It is similar to ''P. hellenicus'' with the following differences. Body darker than ''P. hellenicus'' (juvenile specimens from Iran show the same color as ''P. hellenicus''). All the bones well ossified, cranial bones and pelvic bones highly sculptured. Pelvic girdle present with one spine and one small soft ray on each side. Dorsal spines 8–11, inclined alternatively to left and right. Last spine slightly longer than the others, which are relatively uniform. Dorsal soft rays 6–10; anal soft rays 6–9; gill rakers 9–11; bony scutes 29–32 with 7-12 large lateral scutes; total vertebrae 29–31; precaudal vertebrae usually 13. Caudal fin truncated.

References

Sources

*Keivany, Y. 1996. Taxonomic revision of the genus ''Pungitius'' with emphasis on ''P. hellenicus''. MSc thesis. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta. Edmonton. 98 pp. *Keivany, Y., and J.S. Nelson. 2000. Taxonomic review of the genus ''Pungitius'', ninespine sticklebacks (Teleostei, Gasterosteidae). ''Cybium'', 24(2): 107–122. *Keivany, Y. and J.S. Nelson. 2004. Phylogenetic relationships of sticklebacks (Gasterosteidae), with emphasis on ninespine sticklebacks (''Pungitius spp''.). ''Behaviour'', 141(11/12): 1485–1497. Pungitius Fish of Europe Fish of the Black Sea Fish of Central Asia Fish of the Caspian Sea Fish of Russia Fish described in 1859 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Gasterosteiformes-stub