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THE FIFTEEN-SPINED STICKLEBACK. 



The color of this species is green upon the back, and on the abdomen and sides 

 silvery white spotted minutely with black. The fins are very slightly tinged with 

 yellow. The length of the Ten-spined Stickleback is variable, but rarely exceeds two 

 inches. 



The FIFTEEN-SPINED STICKLEBACK, SEA-ADDER, or BISMORE, is wholly a marine 

 species, and is common on all our coasts. 



It is remarkably elongated in proportion to its width, and this formation, together 

 with its armature of sharp tooth-like spines, has gained it the name of Sea- Adder. It 

 is a voracious creature, feeding on all sorts of marine animals, molluscs, worms, eggs, 

 and fry, and minute crustaceans. Mr. Yarrell advises the collector of marine crusta- 

 ceans to examine carefully the stomachs of the shore-frequenting fishes, and especially 

 of this species, as he will be likely to discover some curious species of those animals, too 

 active or too small to lodge in his net, but unable to avoid the quick eye and ready jaws 



FIFTEEN-SPINED STICKLEBACK. Oasterostevs splnachla. 



of the Stickleback. The same writer mentions that on one occasion, when a Fifteen- 

 spined Stickleback had been caught with a net and placed in water together with a small 

 eel, three inches in length, the voracious creature seized on the eel in a very short time, 

 and contrived to swallow it. The eel, however, was too long to be wholly accommo- 

 dated in the stomach of the Stickleback, and after a while was disgorged, only partly 

 digested. 



This, as well as the other species, is of very changeful coloring, its tints altering 

 according to the circumstances of the moment. As in the case of the frog, already 

 alluded to when treating of that creature, the color of the Stickleback varies with 

 singular rapidity, being dull or bright according to the mental emotions of the individual. 

 The specimen above mentioned was so alarmed when captured, that it changed from 

 its former brilliant tints to pale yellow and brown, remained in that state for eighteen 

 hours, and then suddenly regained its former brightness. 



The Fifteen-spined Stickleblack makes a nest for its eggs, and watches it as faith- 

 fully as the preceding species. The materials are composed of bits of the delicate green 

 or purple seaweeds, woven among the branches of growing corallines, and bound 

 together with a kind of thread of animal matter, so as to form a pear-shaped mass, 

 about as large as the closed fist. The eggs, which are very large, and of a light amber 

 color, are not lodged in a hollow within this nest, but distributed in little packets 

 throughout the mass. Mr. Couch gives the following curious account of a nest of the 



