See Also: stickleback(dictionary)
stickleback(encyclopedia)

stickleback (iou)



stickleback noun. LME.
[from Old English sticel sting, goad, thorn = Old High German stihhil goad, Old Norse stikill point of a horn, from Germanic base of STICK noun1, verb1 + BACK noun1.]
Any member of the family Gasterosteidae of small bony fishes widespread in the northern hemisphere in both fresh and salt water, and characteristically having several spines along the back; esp. (more fully three-spined stickleback) the common Gasterosteus aculeatus.
sea stickleback: see SEA noun.
N. Tinbergen A male stickleback in full spring colours (red underneath, greenish blue on the back).