FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
181 
Color brownish above, mottled with darker; pale or silvery below; often an indefinite pale 
streak along side, with a broken dark band, extending through eye, below it; membrane of ven- 
trals red, other fins mostly plain translucent. 
This species is represented by many specimens, ranging from 25 to 65 millimeters in length. 
It is readily recognized by the naked body and the large stiff spines in the dorsal, anal, and ven- 
tral fins. 
The food of this stickleback, according to the contents of 13 stomachs taken from specimens 
collected from early spring to late fall, consists almost wholly of 
small crustaceans, mainly ainphipods. 
Spawning in Chesapeake Bay takes place in the spring, 
apparently mainly during the last half of April and the early 
part of May, during which period we took many gravid fish. 
The sticklebacks build nests, which are guarded by the males 
after the eggs have been deposited. 14 The size attained is little 
in excess of 2V£ inches. 
This fish was taken in rivers and creeks and in nearly all 
parts of the bay along the immediate shores among vegetation. 
It commonly was found in company with pipefishes. It was 
especially abundant in quiet, brackish, grassy bays and was rarely 
taken along open sandy shores. On the flats of the lower Rap- 
pahannock River as many as 200 were secured in a single haul 
with a 30-foot seine. It is abundant as far north in the bay as 
Baltimore but not so common around Havre de Grace. On February 18, 1922, this stickleback 
was caught at three beam-trawl stations, 5 fish at a depth of 30 feet, 1 fish at 89 feet, and 1 fish 
at 102 feet, indicating that some of them, at least, spend the winter in the deeper waters of the bay. 
This species is of importance only 
in the food that it furnishes for 
larger predatory fishes. It may 
not be easy to swallow by other 
fishes, however, because of its 
large, diverging, pungent spines. 
Habitat . — Maine to Virginia, 
apparently reaching the southern- 
most limits of its distribution in 
Chesapeake Bay. 
Chesapeake localities. — (a) Pre- 
vious records: Fishing Creek, Big Bohemia River, Gunpowder River, Patapsco River, St. Georges 
Island, mouth of Windmill Creek, and Hampton. ( b ) Specimens in collection: From many points 
from Havre de Grace, Md., to Cape Charles and Lynnhaven Bay, Va. 
Family XLIII. — SYNGNATHID/E. The pipefishes and seahorses 
Body elongate, covered with bony rings; snout long, shaped like a tube, bearing a small mouth 
at the tip; jaws toothless; gill opening reduced to a small aperture near upper angle of opercle; tail 
long, sometimes prehensile; males with an egg pouch placed on the ventral side of the tail or under 
the abdomen, commonly formed by two folds of skin, meeting on the median line; dorsal fin simple, 
composed of soft rays only; caudal fin, if present, small; anal usually present, minute; ventrals 
wanting; pectorals small, occasionally missing. 
14 The eggs, embryology, and larval development of the four-spined stickleback are described by Kuntz and Radcliffe, 1918, 
pp. 132 to 134, figs. 122 to 126. 
