Awesome find from my friends

About an week ago I got an SMS with a picture of Ninespine Stickleback. Half an hour later came another message with a picture of Belica. I answered to it and asked what the hell are you doing at Helsinki (There has been so far the one and only place to hit Belicas). And back came another SMS where they said that they are right at the neighbourhood.

Of course I didn’t swallow that so easily. The day after I saw them and of course I tried to question the place from them. And of course they did NOT tell it to me. However, somehow I managed to conclude where they have been.

I also had a totally harmless fishing buddy, The Grass snake (Natrix natrix).

Soon after that I was on my way to one little pond in the southwesterly Finland. When I finally found that pond it took only couple of minutes to hit my first Ninespine stickleback of the year. And about five minutes later I was holding a small silvery fish on my hand. It had a very short lateral line so there was no other options. It just had to be Belica!

Ninespine stickleback (Pungitius pungitius)

Belica (Leucaspius delineatus)

Yesterday I talked to my friend and they had have confirmation from a fish biologist, they truly were Belicas.

So couple of new species to add to my yearly list. Actually I had another short trip to another little pond couple of days ago. From there I managed to find few small Crucian carp. So my count is on 22 now.

Species is a species, even the smallest specimen will count.