Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

Get Adobe Flash player
 

  • Nederlands
  • Deutsch
Search in the Encyclopedia

Dieren en planten

Fish   Sticklebacks   Three-spined stickleback   Ten-spined stickleback   Fish biology   Fish communities   Freshwater fish   
  • Dut: Tiendoornige stekelbaars
  • Lat: Pungitius pungitius
  • Fre: Épinochette
  • Ger: Zwergstichling
  • Eng: Nine-spined stickleback, ten-spined stickelback
print print
Ten-spined stickleback, foto fitis, sytske dijksen

Ten-spined stickleback

The ten-spined stickleback has eight to ten spines on its back and three on its belly. The fish is the smallest indigenous fish species of the Netherlands and grows to a maximum of seven centimeters in length. It lives only one or two years and usually dies after reproducing in its second year of life. Spawning season is from April till July. The male builds a nest in thick overgrowth of pondweed and hornwort. Just like the three-spined stickleback, this fish performs an extensive mating ritual and the males care for the young.

  • Eye-hunter

    The ten-spined stickleback hunts by sight and therefore has relatively large eyes. Its favourite prey is water fleas. It can live in brackish water, just like the three-spined stickleback but it does not migrate to sea every year.

  • 45,000 years ago

    From finds in Drente, it appears that ten-spined sticklebacks lived in the Netherlands as far back as 45,000 years ago. Furthermore, it is presently found around the entire North Pole, from North America to Asia and Northern and Western European.