FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



169 



and often up the sides. In fomales the whole body except the top of the back may 

 then be reddish. At the same time the back turns brownish with transverse bands, 

 and the sides develop brassy reflections. 



Size. — Maximum length about 4 inches, but seldom more than 3 inches long. 

 It matures at a length of 2 inches. 



General range. — Coasts and fresh waters of the northern hemisphere, from 

 Labrador to New Jersey on the eastern coast of America and represented on the 

 northwestern coast by a form (Gasterosteus cataphractus) that will probably prove 

 to be identical. 



Fig. 73— Adult 



Fig. 74— Egg 



Fig. 75. — Larva, newly hatched, 4.3 millimeters 



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Fig. 76.— Larva, 6.3 millimeters 

 THREE-SPINED STICKLEBACK (Gaslaosteus acultatus) 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — This stickleback is very plentiful all around 

 the shores of the Gulf from Nova Scotia to Cape Cod, living indifferently in brackish 

 and in salt water. The ditches and creeks of the tidal marshes, brackish ponds and 

 lagoons, rock pools, and weedy shores in shallow water are its favorite habitats. 

 In such places it may be found practically anywhere, and qften in great numbers in 

 company with killifishes and other sticklebacks, for it is the commonest of its tribe 

 in the Gulf, as it is about Woods Hole. It is equally at home in fresh water on the 

 one hand, and in sea water of full salinity on the other. 



