642 



SCANDINAVIAN KISHKS. 



The pectoral tins are yellcnv witli a l)rassy lustre. The 

 true dorsal and the anal fins ai'e graj'ish brown with 

 yellow rays in front; behind the membrane is trans- 

 parent. The caudal fin is olive-green, with transparent 

 outer margin and vellowish brown I'ays. The iris is 

 gray, above darker with black margin, below whitish 

 vellow; the jiupil is surrounded l)v a narrow, orange 

 ring. 



The geographical i-aiige of the Fit'teen-spined Stick- 

 leback is known to extend from North Cape along the 

 west coast of Europe to the Bay of Biscay. In Iceland 

 and America it is unknown. The most westerly parts 

 of its range are the Faroe Islands and Ireland. It pene- 

 trates into the Baltic as far as the south coast of Fin- 

 land. Off Hogland, in the Gulf of Fiidand, it is com- 

 mon, according to Mela; in the island-belt of Stockholm 

 it is rare. Being distinctly a marine fish, never enter- 

 ing fresh water, it is commoner on tlie west coast of 

 Sweden than on the east. It is also common on the 

 coast of Norway, off the Orkney and Shetland Islands, 

 and southward at least to the coast of Brittanj-; but 

 in the Bay of Biscay it is rare. 



The Fifteeu-spined Stickleback is a shore-fish and 

 lives among the seaweed, ascending into half-a-fathom 

 of water and even up to high-water mark. "Its favourite 

 haunts," says Malm, "are such spots as possess a sandy 

 bottom, studded with large or small stones covered 

 with Fucacece and interspersed with groves of Zosfera. 

 Among these it gracefully threads its way by short 

 stages, now hither and now thither." It is not very 

 active nor very timid; Init when frightened it darts 

 forward ^vith the speed of an ari-ow. In contradistinc- 

 tion to the other Sticklebacks it leads a more solitary 

 life, or at least does not assemble in so dense or large 

 shoals. It is tenacious of life" and a greedy eater. Its 

 food consists principally of small crustaceans (especially 

 of the genera Mi/sis and Idothea) and worms; but it is 

 also accused of preying upon the roe and fry of othei- 

 fishes. Couch' once saw a Fifteen-spined Stickleback 

 seize and partly devour a young Eel 3 inches long, 

 though it was at last compelled to disgorge its victim. 



During the spawning-season, which occurs in 

 spring and summer, the Fifteen-spined Stickleback 



makes its way to shallow water, within a harbour or 

 in some little inlet sheltered from the waves, often 

 between the tide-marks. Here it builds a nest for its 

 eggs and young. This is constructed either on the 

 bottom or, perhaj)S more frequenth', floating in tiie 

 water, under a pendent tuft of seaweed or some 

 other object — Coicii found one of these dwellings be- 

 tween the loose twists of the end of a rope'. When 

 the nest hangs free, it is usually pear-shaped and of 

 the size of one's fist. Buckland'' gives the following 

 description of the nursery of the Fifteen-spined Stickle- 

 back: "Tlie main bod^' of the nest is formed of vei'v 

 soft weed — in fact, as soft as sponge — and, strange 

 to say, as though for the sake of ornament, our little 

 architect has placed at the point where the nest is 

 thickest a bit of brilliant blood-red weed. Nay, more, 

 it appears as though the builder of the nest, fearing 

 the risk of discovery, had worked in great broad por- 

 tions of brown riljbon weed, which should act, firstly, 

 as a covering, or band, to keep the whole structure 

 together; and, secondly, to serve the purposes of con- 

 cealment. So beautifully, indeed, is this nest con- 

 structed for the concealment of the eggs, that unless 

 the naturalist to ^\•hom the nest was sent had been 

 previously aware «hat the structure meant, he might 

 easily have been pardoned if he had not seen the eggs 

 at all. After a careful dissection of the outer coatings 

 of the nest, the eggs themselves came into view. These 

 eggs are round little bodies about the size and colour 

 of mustard seed. They are in bunches like grapes, and 

 we trv whether they are to be separated from the bunch 

 with ease. Another marvel; the body of eggs are all 

 sewed into a compact mass by a very thin, delicate 

 fibre, which in the sun glistens like a cobweb or the 

 very finest floss silk. The filaments which hold the 

 eggs are worked through, over and round them, so 

 as to form a comjdetc network.' Threads of the 

 same sort also serve to hold the walls of the nest 

 together, and are secreted by the fish in the form of 

 a glutinous substance that hardens in the water. 



Malm has described (1. c.) his observations of the 

 spawning of the Fifteen-spined Stickleback on the .']rd 

 of August, 1854, off Kristineberg (Gullmar Fjord). 



" KnoYER, liowever, foimfi it less tenacious of life than the true Sticklebacks. 

 ' Hist. Fish. Brit. Isl., vol. I, p. 183. 

 ' 1. c, pi. XXXVIII. 



•' Nat. Hist. Brit. Fish., p. 250. For furtlier inforniation on tliis lieail see H.^ncock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 2nd ser., vol. X 

 (1852), p. 24C. 



