fourspine stickleback

Apeltes quadracus

Red pelvic spines signal courtship in motion

Temperate
Coastal
Regional distribution
Atlantic Ocean
North America
Small
Temperate fish

Apeltes is a monospecific genus old ray-finned fish belonging to the family Gasterosteidae, the sticklebacks. The only species in the genus is A. quadracus, the fourspine stickleback or bloody stickleback, which lives in freshwater, brackish and benthopelagic environments of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean between Newfoundland and South Carolina.

Class: Teleosts
Order: Perches and Allies
Family: Gasterosteidae
Genus: Apeltes
Maximum length: 6.4 cm
Distribution: Western Atlantic: Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada to North Carolina, USA. Mainly a near-shore marine species, but far inland populations occur in lakes in Nova Scotia in Canada and in Hudson, Delaware and Susquehanna River drainages (Ref. 5723 ).
Conservation status: LCLeast Concern

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