stickleback

noun

stick·le·back ˈsti-kəl-ˌbak

plural sticklebacks also stickleback

: any of a family (Gasterosteidae) of small scaleless bony fishes having two or more free spines in front of the dorsal fin and including marine, anadromous, and freshwater forms

Examples of stickleback in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web As a condition of a special use permit to collect water for municipal purposes, Big Bear City Community Services District is contractually obligated to maintain barbed wire fences and water flows at Shay Creek, where the stickleback were discovered in 1981. —

Louis Sahagún, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2023 For comparison, the team also analyzed the stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), which, despite being a close relative, lacks the seahorse's distinctive head shape. —

Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 26 Nov. 2013 The data comes from 3 freshwater threespine stickleback populations, and 2 oceanic ones. —

Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 1 Mar. 2010 With colleagues, he’s also uncovered the genetic underpinnings of these changes in the stickleback fish. —

Katie Hunt, CNN, 30 Jan. 2023 The stickleback's hydrodynamics were significantly noisier than that of the stealthy, silent ninja seahorse. —

Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 26 Nov. 2013 The stickleback has undergone a grand evolutionary experiment, replicated many times over around the world. —

Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 5 Apr. 2012 David Kingsley from Stanford University has been studying the stickleback for many years, and his team have now published the animal’s full genome. —

Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 5 Apr. 2012 During the breeding season, male stickleback fish become intensively territorial and take on a bright red coloration on their underside that attracts females. —

Lee Alan Dugatkin, Scientific American, 15 Apr. 2022 See More

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