In the comparative study of Gymnocephalus cernuus and G. baloni we searched for differences in growth, habitat and feeding between the two species in support of their distinctness. significant differences were found in both habitat and feeding, whereas growth was more or less similar. G. baloni is bound to hiding places located in flowing water. In vegetative periods it occurs solitary and in generative in pairs. G. cernuus lives in shoals in the whole season, occuring mostly in the open, still parts of waters near to the bottom. The food of the two ruffe species mostly consists of the characteristic macroinvertebrates of their habitat. The body pattern, the number of opecular spines and the cut on the membrane between AI and AII were found to be the most useful characters in identification
