THREE-SPINED STICKLEBACK 



guards his wife and home with immense bravado, and 

 woe betide any enemy that approaches too near the 

 citadel. The greater the excitement, the more the brave 

 little male glows with vivid colours and increasing 

 courage. It does not possess scales, but a series of bony 

 plates (if such they may be termed) extends vertically 

 down the body. The general colour is greenish and 

 silver^', and the three spines are borne along the back, 

 the two front ones being larger than the small one near 

 the dorsal fin. There is also a spine in front of the anal 



Tlirce-spmed jSricklo-back Ficf SS 



fin, and one on the middle part of the belly. This 



fish does not attain a greater length than 2 to 4 inches. 



It moves about in shoals, and inhabits shallow, as well as 



deep, water. The merest rivulet, or water-cress bed, 



having a clear current of water, will contain some of 



these gay little tenants whose appetite is prodigious when 



one remembers the smallness of this species. The male 



is a model father in so far as the young are concerned, 



as he not only tends them with great fidelity, but will 



even carry them back into the nest if they leave it before 



he considers it safe for them so to do. One wife does not 



suit the male Stickleback as, apparently, she does not 



105 



