| Gasterosteus Temporal range:
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|---|---|
| |
| Gasterosteus microcephalus | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Family: | Gasterosteidae |
| Genus: | Gasterosteus Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Type species | |
| Gasterosteus aculeatus Linnaeus, 1758
| |
| Synonyms | |
Gasterosteus is a genus of ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Gasterosteidae, the sticklebacks. These fishes are found in freshwater, brackish water and marine habitats in the Holarctic region.
Species
There are currently 6 recognized species in this genus:
- Gasterosteus aculeatus Linnaeus, 1758 (Three-spined stickleback)
- †Gasterosteus crenobiontus Băcescu & R. Mayer, 1956 (Techirghiol stickleback)
- Gasterosteus islandicus Sauvage, 1874 (Iceland stickleback)
- Gasterosteus microcephalus Girard, 1854 (Smallhead stickleback)
- Gasterosteus nipponicus Higuchi, Sakai & A. Goto, 2014 1
- Gasterosteus wheatlandi Putnam, 1867 (Black-spotted stickleback)
Additionally there are a number of fossil species including:
- †Gasterosteus abnormis Gretchina, 1981 (middle Miocene of Sakhalin, Russia)2
- †Gasterosteus doryssus (Jordan, 1907) (=Merriamella doryssa Jordan, 1907, G. apodus Mural, 1973) (late Miocene of Nevada, USA)34
- †Gasterosteus kamoensis Nazarkin, Yabumoto & Urabe, 2013 (Late Miocene of Japan)2
- †Gasterosteus orientalis Sychevskaya, 1981 (middle Miocene of Kamchatka, Russia)2
Fossils of essentially modern three-spined sticklebacks, assigned to G. aculeatus, are known from the mid-late Miocene of California, USA.5
References
References
- Higuchi, M., Sakai, H. & Goto, A. (2014): A new threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus nipponicus sp. nov. (Teleostei: Gasterosteidae), from the Japan Sea region. Ichthyological Research, (61) 4: 341-351.
- Nazarkin, Mikhail V.; Yabumoto, Yoshitaka; Urabe, Atsushi (2013). "A New Miocene Three-Spined Stickleback (Pisces: Gasterosteidae) from Central Japan". Paleontological Research. 16 (4): 318–328. doi:10.2517/1342-8144-16.4.318. ISSN 1342-8144.
- Mural, Richard J. (1973). "The Pliocene Sticklebacks of Nevada with a Partial Osteology of the Gasterosteidae". Copeia. 1973 (4): 721–735. doi:10.2307/1443072. ISSN 0045-8511.
- Stuart, Yoel E.; Travis, Matthew P.; Bell, Michael A. (2020). "Inferred genetic architecture underlying evolution in a fossil stickleback lineage". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 4 (11): 1549–1557. doi:10.1038/s41559-020-01287-x. ISSN 2397-334X.
- Bell, Michael A.; Stewart, J. D.; Park, Peter J. (2009-06-12). "The World's Oldest Fossil Threespine Stickleback Fish". Copeia. 2009 (2): 256–265. doi:10.1643/CG-08-059. ISSN 0045-8511.