stickleback

American  

[stik-uhl-bak] / ˈstɪk əlˌbæk /

noun

1. any of the small, pugnacious, spiny-backed fishes of the family Gasterosteidae, inhabiting northern fresh waters and sea inlets, the male of which builds and guards the nest.

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stickleback British  

/ ˈstɪkəlˌbæk /

noun

1. any small teleost fish of the family Gasterosteidae, such as Gasterosteus aculeatus ( three-spined stickleback ) of rivers and coastal regions and G. pungitius ( ten-spined stickleback ) confined to rivers. They have a series of spines along the back and occur in cold and temperate northern regions

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Etymology

Origin of stickleback

1400–50; late Middle English stykylbak, equivalent to Old English sticol scaly + bæc back ¹

Example Sentences

The group continued to move the fish in the evening and the following morning finding species including salmon, trout and stickleback.

From BBC • Aug. 30, 2025

Earlier this month, Krantz visited a stickleback translocation effort that he helped to organize.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 17, 2023

It opened in 1934 near the Ballard Locks, featuring Alaska stickleback, pipe fish, yellow-banded perch, blennies and cultus cod, according to HistoryLink.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 28, 2022

Inside the fish, the larva grows enormously, making the poor stickleback gasp at the water's surface, where it is likely to get snacked on by a bird.

From Scientific American • Sep. 29, 2022

The male salmon is as pugnacious as the little stickleback; and so is the male trout, as I hear from Dr. Günther.

From The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex Volume II (1st Edition) by Darwin, Charles