Summary:

One of the most intriguing and still rather mysterious water ecosystems are small mid-field ponds. Relatively little attention is devoted to representatives of ichthyofauna inhabiting them. The purpose of this work was the evaluation of the species and quantitative composition of the fish inhabiting several selected mid-field ponds (five), and the analysis of habitat conditions and the possibility of utilising small countryside ponds for angling purposes. Overall, 203 fish belonging to eight species were caught. The highest number was recorded in the pond No. 5 (84 specimens), and the lowest number was recorded in the pond No. 3 (18 specimens), where all the fish belonged to one species - Carassius auratus gibelio. No fish habitation was detected in the pond No. 1.
The highest dominance index (Di) was achieved by Perca fluviatilis (33.5%) and Carassius carassius (17.73%), whereas the lowest index belonged to Scardinius erythrophtalmus (2.46%) and Blicca bjoerkna (5.42%). The comparison of constancy index values (Ci) indicates that as many as six fish species out of eight demonstrated high constancy of 60%, whereas two fish species (Blicca bjoerkna and Scardinius erythrophtalmus) reached a low level of constancy amounting to 20%.
The studied ponds predominantly featured good or very good conditions for angling. In 2012, the presence of 28 anglers was noted with regard to the studied ponds, therefore, it can be stipulated that small mid-field ponds contribute to the development of angling in Poland.