Pituitary cysts and concretions in the gasterosteidae (Teleostei)

Pituitary cysts in the nine-spined stickleback, Pungitius pungitius, were found in the prolactin zone of the rostral pars distalis in 22 per cent of fish caught in May from freshwater, field-drainage ditches near Cardiff, Wales. They were not associated solely with some special environmental or hereditary factor in the Welsh population, for they were also present in 6 per cent of fish caught at a similar time of year in a freshwater lake at Manitoba, Canada. Although the pituitaries of other sticklebacks (Culaea inconstans, Apeltes quadracus and Gasterosteus wheatlandi) are similar to that of P. pungitius, they did not develop large cysts. There were no cysts at all in A. quadracus, and none greater than 50 microns in diameter in C. inconstans and G. wheatlandi. A minority of P. pungitius (less than 1 per cent) develop concretions either within the pituitary ("intraglandular") or in the surrounding capsule ("capsular"). Most of the concretions are filled with a strongly staining and laminated colloid. They are present in males and females, adults and juveniles, in fish killed soon after capture and in animals adapted to laboratory conditions. As far as we are aware, this is the first record of such structures in lower vertebrates.