Name:
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- Pungitius, from the Latin, "pricking"
- pungitius, ditto
- Common Name from
- Other common names include: Nine Spine Stickleback, Småspigg
(Swe)
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Taxonomy:
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- Kingdom Animalia
- Phylum Chordata,
- Subphylum Vertebrata,
- Superclass Osteichthyes, bony fishes
- Class Actinopterygii, ray-finned and spiny rayed fishes
- Subclass Neopterygii
- Infraclass Teleostei
- Family Gasterosteidae, the sticklebacks
- Genus Pungitius, the ninespine sticklebacks
- Pungitius occidentalis (Cuvier, 1829)
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Description:
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- An aggressive little fish of northern waters.
- Length less than 3"
- Weight
- Coloration
- green or grey above, with irregular blotches
- silvery below
- breeding males can be redish or blackish
- Body
- nine separate dorsal spines
- anal fin with a single spine
- pelvic fin with single spine
- Head
- Lifespan
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Identification:
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- Unmistakable as a stickleback.
- Distinguished from the other northern stickleback, the Brook Stickleback
(Culaea inconstans), by having 9 (rather
than 5) stickles on its back.
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Distribution:
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- Circumboreal; Asia, northern Europe, and North America.
- Alaska through Canada, to the Great Lakes and east to New Jersey.
- Locally common in northern Minnesota in the Rainy River drainage and tributaries
to North Shore streams. This includes most of the BWCA.
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Habitat:
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- Freshwater and coastal areas of northern seas.
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Foods:
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- In Canada, where abundant, an important forage fish for Brook Trout, Lake
Trout, and Walleye.
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History:
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Uses:
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Reproduction:
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- Spawns in summer in fresh water.
- Male builds a rounded nest from organic debris, filamentous algae, and
other materials.
- Male aggressively seeks out a female and lures her to the nest. The female
enters the nest opening and deposits 20-30 eggs. Immediately after leaving
the nest the female is chased away by the male. The male then enters the
nest and fertilizes the eggs.
- Eggs are incubated and guarded by the male.
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Comments:
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Links:
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Last updated on 17 October 1999
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