642 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
The pectoral tins are yellow with a brassy lustre. The 
true dorsal and the anal tins are grayish brown with 
yellow rays in front; behind the membrane is trans- 
parent. The caudal fin is olive-green, with transparent 
outer margin and yellowish brown rays. The iris is 
gray, above darker with black margin, below whitish 
yellow; the pupil is surrounded by a narrow, orange 
ring. 
The geographical range of the Fifteen-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 Finland, 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 the 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 Brittany; but 
in the Bay of Biscay it is rare. 
The Fifteen-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 Zostera. 
Among these it gracefully threads its way by short 
stages, now hither and now thither.” It is not very 
active nor very timid; but when frightened it darts 
forward with the speed of an arrow. 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 My sis and Idothea ) and worms; but it is 
also accused of preying upon the roe and fry of other 
fishes. Couch * 6 once satv 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, perhaps more frequently, floating in the 
water, under a pendent tuft of seaweed or some 
other object — Couch 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: “The main body of the nest is formed of very 
soft weed — in fact, as soft as sponge — and, strange 
to say, a.s 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 ribbon Aveed, Avhich 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 whom the nest Avas sent had been 
previously aAvare Avhat 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 vieAv. These 
eggs are round little bodies about the size and colour 
of mustard seed. They are in bunches like grapes, and 
we try Avhether they are to be separated from the bunch 
Avith ease. Another marvel; the body of eggs are all 
sewed into a compact mass by a very thin, delicate 
fibre, Avhich in the sun glistens like a cobAveb or the 
very finest floss silk. The filaments Avhich hold the 
eggs are Avorked through, over and round them, so 
as to form a complete netAvork. ’ Threads of the 
same sort also serve to hold the Avails of the nest 
together, and are secreted by the fish in the form of 
a glutinous substance that hardens in the Avater. 
Malm has described (1. c.) his observations of the 
spaAvning of the Fifteen-spined Stickleback on the 3rd 
of August, 1854, off Kristineberg (Gullmar Fjord). 
a KR0YER, however, found it less tenacious of life than the true Sticklebacks. 
6 Hist. Fish. Brit. Isl., vol. I, p. 183. 
c 1. c., pi. XXXVIII. 
d Nat. Hist. Brit. Fish., p. 250. For further information on this head see Hancock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 2nd ser., vol. X 
(1852), p. 246. 
