Volume 37, Plate VI / Ichthyology (Fish)

Fifteen-Spined Stickleback with Nest and Eggs

Gasterosteus spinachia

The only remaining British species of its kind, this salt-water fish is at once known by its many spines, prolonged tail, and elongated snout with the longer under jaw, attaining no more than six or seven inches. Prevailing in northern seas and abounding off Berwickshire, it lurks among weed-clothed rocks; though less active than its freshwater kin it is rapacious, devouring an eel head foremost and seizing prey with a darting spring.