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STICKLEBACK, the name applied to a group of small fishes (Gastrosteus) which inhabit the fresh and brackish waters as well as the coasts of the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere.
The stickleback itself may be preyed on by larger predators, such as larger fish, kingfishers, herons, water shrews and otters. The spines probably protect it from some of its enemies.
Sticklebacks range from 11/2 to 4 in. (3.7-10 cm) in length and lack true scales; they are equipped with short, strong spines in front of the dorsal and on the ventral fins, the number varying with the species.
Sticklebacks eat tiny aquatic insects and crustaceans. They help control mosquitoes by eating the insect's larvae.
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Although sticklebacks are found in many locations around the coasts of the Northern Hemisphere and are thus viewed by the IUCN as species of least concern, ...
The three-spined stickleback is equally at home in fresh water and sea water. It has three sharp spines on its back and a series of bony plates along its sides.
Here they dive with partly folded wings, "flying" rapidly underwater, with tail and feet spread to aid steering, as they pursue small schooling fish such as herring, sand lance, capelin, sticklebacks, and smelt, ...
It seems that Nine-spined Sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius) not only make use of both sorts of information when foraging, ...
For instance, many smaller species live for only a year or less, such as North American minnows in the genus Pimephales, a few galaxiids from Tasmania and New Zealand, Sundaland noodlefishes , a silverside , a stickleback , and a few gobies .
: They are a non-guarding species, as opposed to either live bearers (such as guppies) or nest/egg guarders (such as sticklebacks). This method of reproduction results in heavy predation of the eggs and newly hatched larvae.
In the Santa Clara River system, this may include a wide range of native aquatic invertebrates and vertebrates, including tadpoles and juvenile amphibians, young arroyo chub (Gila orcutti), the federally endangered unarmored threespine stickleback ...
Loons feed mainly on small fish but also eat aquatic plants, insects, mollusks, and frogs. The main prey species for loons are ninespine stickleback, least cisco, Alaska blackfish, fourhorn sculpin, isopods, and amphipods.
A comparison of bony fish size in relation to humans - from the 16m long prehistoric Leedsichthys to the 12cm long three-spined stickleback.
Habitats ...
Gasterosteidae, Sticklebacks
Atherinidae, Silversides
Cottidae, Sculpins
Sciaenidae, Drums
Percidae, Perches
Moronidae, Striped Basses
Centrarchidae, Sunfishes ...
crustaceans, amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals. Preferred insects include dragonflies, water striders, water beetles, and grasshoppers; frequently consumed fish are eels, catfish, pickerel, sunfish, suckers, perch, killifish, and sticklebacks.
 See also: Shell, Salmon, Trout, Diver, Crustacean
  
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