DESCRIPTION OF A NEW STICKLEBACK, GASTEROSTEUS 

 GLADIUNCULUS, FROM THE COAST OF MAINE. 



By W. C. Kendall, A. M., 



Assistant, United States Fish Commission 



While craisiug ou the Maine coast, on the United States Fisli Com- 

 mission schooner Grami)t<.<<, during the mackerel investigation of the 

 summer of 1895, the writer caught in surface and scoo}) nets a number 

 of sticklebacks which differed widely from Gasterosteus hispinosus, many 

 of which were caught in the same localities and under the same con- 

 ditions. While G. bispinosus was abundant all along the coast, the 

 form now described was apparently confined to an area within a few 

 utiles of Seguin Island. They were found under tloating rock-weed 

 {FucHs nodosus and F. resiculosus), large quantities of which were 

 encountered on the coast this summer. Often associated with the two 

 kinds of sticklebacks mentioned were young hake {Pliycis chit^.s or 1'. 

 tenuis), young lumpfish {Cyclopterm himpm), and pipefish {Siphostoma 



The stickleback here described seems to difier consmerably from the 

 description of any other stickleback known from the western Atlantic 

 Coast. It is related, however, to (/. hispino.sus, approaching more or 

 less closely the variety afkinsii of Schoodic Lakes. Although Dr. 

 r.ouleuo-er of the British :^Iuseum finds wide variations in the dermal 

 armature of G. arulenius, as also does Mr. Cloudsley lli^ttev, in the stick- 

 lebacks of the Pacific Coast, there seem to be sufficient other difier- 

 ences to establish this form as a distinct species. The main points in 

 which it difl^rs from (?. hispinosm are the deeper body, fewer fin rays, 

 fewer dermal plates, unkeeled caudal peduncle, ventral spines serrated 

 above and below, and a strong cusp at the base of each ventral spine, 

 both above and below. In identifying and describing this stickleback 

 I am oreatly indebted to Prof. B. W. Evermann for kindly allowing me 

 free use of proof sheets of Jordan and Evermann's Fishes of North and 



?t[iddle America. -, i i- 



The following is a description of the heretofore undescnbed torm, 

 together with measurements and obsmvations on the cotypes: 



GASTEROSTEUS GLADIUNCULUS, new species. 



l)escnpfion.-Yleaa,3k; depth,3^; D. II-1, 10: A. I., 8. Head rather 

 long; eye about three times in head; opercle not striat e; body deep , 



. (naaiummns, little swo,-d:^icklel,a..l<s l.ein^ called by the boys about Port- 

 laud, Me., " Little swordfisb.'' 



I'roieedings of tl.e rnited Stutos National Mu-euui. \ m .WIlI-Xo. lOS'J. ^^^ 



