Stickleback
a popular name for any of the species Gasterosteus. The 15spined stickleback lives in salt or brackish water, the others are fresh-water fish; and all, though small in size, are active, greedy, and extremely destructive to the fry of other fishes. In the breeding season the male stickleback constructs a nest, about three inches wide and six inches deep, of stalks of grass STIGMA STIGMA (plural, STIGMAS, or STIG- MATA), a mark made with a red-hot iron; a brand impressed on slaves and others; also a small red speck on the human skin; figuratively, any mark of infamy, disgrace, or reproach which attaches to a person on account of bad conduct; a slur. In anatomy, the projecting part occurs. of a Graafian follicle at which rupture In biology, stigmata ta are the external openings of the tracheal apparatus in the Insecta and Arachnida. Applied also to the pores of the segmental organs of leeches, and to the openings by which the pneumatocyst communicates with the exterior in some of the Physophoridæ.
In botany, the part of the pistil to which the pollen is applied. It is generally situated at the upper extremity of the style. It is a glandular body, destitute of epidermis, and secretes a STICKLEBACK AND ITS NEST and other matters, cemented together with mucus which exudes from his skin.
The 15-spined stickleback (G. spinachia) is entirely confined to salt and brackish water; the three-spined stickleback (G. aculeatus), the commonest, is found in both fresh and salt water; the shortspined stickleback (G. brachycentrus), the four-spined stickleback (G. spinulosus), and the nine-spined or 10-spined stickleback (G. pungitius), are confined to fresh water.