68 ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
NINE-SPINED STICKLEBACK 
Photograph by Dr. E. Bade 
They are found from Connecticut southward 
to South Carolina. 
There are but four or five cases on record of 
the spawning of European or American species 
in captivity. The latest that has come to our 
attention was observed in an aquarium of Mr. 
W. L. Paullin, recorded in Aquatic Life for 
September, 1918. A pair of mud minnows was 
captured while in the act of spawning in a bed 
of algae. and deposited in a densely planted 
aquarium, where they resumed spawning in a 
hollow they had formed in a mass of algae, clos- 
ing the nest from the side when the eggs were 
in it. It was the female, curiously enough, that 
remained on guard. The young hatched on the 
sixth day and left the nest about six days later. 
They reached a length of one and a half inches 
in four months. 
DartTeErRs 
Darters are characterized by their slender, 
graceful bodies, and their ungraceful, jerky 
movements. 
Among the darters are some of the most at- 
tractively colored of our small native fishes; but 
they do well only in cool, running water. If 
this can be provided, they may be cared for the 
same as other native fishes. The hardiest in 
captivity is the Fantailed Darter (Etheostoma 
flabellare) from Kentucky, which unfortunately 
is not as beautifully marked as most of the 
others. 
STICKLEBACKS 
The interesting nest-building habits of the 
sticklebacks have won them a merited place in 
many home and school aquaria. 
Most of the sticklebacks are commonly found 
in brackish water. A few fresh-water species 
exist in the northeastern United States, the 
commonest of these being the Brook Stickleback 
(Eucalia inconstans), found in small brooks 
and sometimes in stagnant water. It is a small 
species rarely longer than onc and a half inches, 
though said sometimes to attain two and a half 
inches. This species has lived in the New 
York Aquarium for four years 
Some of the marine species seek fresh waters 
in which to breed, and nearly all can be gradu- 
ally adapted to a fresh-water existence. Bou- 
lenger says that the European Three-spined 
Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) can be 
“transferred suddenly from fresh to salt water 
without appearing in the least inconvenienced.” 
The Nine-spined Stickleback ( Pyqosteus 
pungitius), attains a length of two and a half 
inches. It has survived captivity for two years 
in the Aquarium, as has also the Two-spined 
Stickleback (Gasterosteus bispinosus), though 
both were kept in brackish water in this insti- 
tution. 
The Four-spined Stickleback (Apeltes quad- 
racus) will live for four years in captivity 
in brackish water, this species not being found 
in fresh water. 
The nine-spined stickleback, common on both 
Atlantic coasts, constructs his nest among the 
plants in such wise that it bears a resemblance 
to an oriole’s nest hanging from a tree. The 
four-spined stickleback constructs a_ barrel- 
shaped nest with an opening at both ends. 
The nest-building habits of the various spec- 
ies are similar. The sticklebacks are typical 
fish-gray in color, but at the approach of the 
breeding season the ventral fins or under por- 
tions of the body of the male assume a brilliant 
red color, with blue and green above, and he 
begins to build a nest of odd bits of vegetation 
glued together by a secretion from the kidneys 
which has been found to develop in the fish 
coincidently with the ripening of the milt. The 
shape of the nest varies in different species 
from a small structure like a sparrow’s nest 
JOHNNY DARTER, BOLEOSOMA NIGRUM 
From The Fishes of Illinois by Forbes and Richardson. 
