1. (noun) small (2-4 inches) pugnacious mostly scaleless spiny-backed fishes of northern fresh and littoral waters having elaborate courtship; subjects of much research

• stickleback

1. (noun) small elongate fishes of shallow northern seas; a long dorsal fin consists entirely of spines

• blennioid
• blennioid fish

2. (noun) small (2-4 inches) pugnacious mostly scaleless spiny-backed fishes of northern fresh and littoral waters having elaborate courtship; subjects of much research

• acanthopterygian
• spiny-finned fish

1. (noun) small elongate fishes of shallow northern seas; a long dorsal fin consists entirely of spines

• eelblenny
• lumpenus lumpretaeformis
• snakeblenny

2. (noun) small (2-4 inches) pugnacious mostly scaleless spiny-backed fishes of northern fresh and littoral waters having elaborate courtship; subjects of much research

• gasterosteus aculeatus
• three-spined stickleback
• gasterosteus pungitius
• ten-spined stickleback

1. (noun) small (2-4 inches) pugnacious mostly scaleless spiny-backed fishes of northern fresh and littoral waters having elaborate courtship; subjects of much research

• family gasterosteidae
• gasterosteidae