#2080 · 🐟 fish
Threespine Stickleback
🇳🇱 Driedoornige stekelbaars ·Gasterosteus aculeatus
7 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
The three-spined stickleback ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ) is a fish native to most inland coastal waters north of 30°N. It has long been a subject of scientific study for many reasons. It shows great morphological variation throughout its range, ideal for questions about evolution and population genetics. Most populations are anadromous (they live in seawater but breed in fresh or brackish water) and very tolerant of changes in salinity, a subject of interest to physiologists. It displays elaborate...
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 127 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #9 most seen of the fish in NL.
- 10,725 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Threespine Stickleback
- Nederlands
- Driedoornige stekelbaars
- scientific name
- Gasterosteus aculeatus
- class
- Actinopterygii
- order
- Perciformes
- family
- Gasterosteidae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 127
- sightings in Europe
- 3,775
- sightings worldwide
- 10,725
- GBIF records in NL
- 36,643
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Gasterosteidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 48403, Wikidata Q203572, GBIF 4286327, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.