stickleback
1
8.6
- noun
- /ˈstɪkəlˌbæk/
- UK
:
espinoso
- Long before I began my research five years ago, the threespine stickleback had become a classic subject for behavioral research.
- threespine stickleback
- stickleback populations
- cannibalistic sticklebacks
Examples
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For the threespine stickleback, mating can be a risky business.
Academic text (1990) -
The stickleback is known for its spiny back, which helps it survive in coastal waters.
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In this lake, a male occasionally picks up a dead stickleback or a cigarette butt in his mouth.
Academic text (1990) -
In Crystal Lake, female stickleback, rather than males, usually initiated courtship.
Academic text (1990) -
Populations of freshwater stickleback are generally far more diverse in appearance than their marine relatives.
Academic text (1990) -
Although adults fed primarily in open water, a small number of the Cowichan stickleback grew particularly large and shifted to bottom feeding.
Academic text (1990) -
In the other two lakes, the stickleback proved to be cannibalistic, but only in Hotel Lake did they forage in large groups.
Academic text (1990) -
When he grew up, Tinbergen, a gifted observer of animal behavior, remembered the stickleback and brought it into his laboratory as a subject for teaching and research.
Academic text (1990) -
The stickleback's large repertoire of behavioral patterns includes some remarkable diversionary tactics.
Academic text (1990) -
The small fish I had been observing so intently were threespine sticklebacks, named for the three prominent spines jutting from their backs.
Academic text (1990)
Synonyms
A small fish with three sharp spines on its back that lives in rivers and the sea
A small northern fish with three sharp spines that lives in rivers and near coasts
A group of small fish called sticklebacks
A small freshwater fish with nine spines on its back that lives in rivers and streams
A small freshwater fish with ten sharp spines on its back
A small, long fish with spines on its back that lives in northern coastal or fresh waters
Compounds
A small fish with three sharp spines on its back that lives in rivers and the sea
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Stickleback comes from older parts stickle, a word meaning 'sharp' or 'pointed', and back, so it really means a 'sharp-backed' fish. That's why the stickleback is a small fish known for the little spines on its back.