Apeltes
Culaea
Gasterosteus
Pungitius
Spinachia
See text for species.
The Gasterosteidae are a family of fish including the sticklebacks. FishBase currently recognises 16 species in the family, grouped in 5 genera. However several of the species have a number of recognised subspecies, and the taxonomy of the family is thought to be in need of revision. Although some authorities give the common name of the family as "sticklebacks and tube-snouts", the tube-snouts are currently classified in the related family Aulorhynchidae.
The family includes the three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus aculeatus, common in Northern Temperate Climates around the world including Europe, Alaska, and Japan and colloquially known in Britain as the "tiddler". Niko Tinbergen's studies of the behaviour of this fish were important in the early development of ethology as an example of a fixed action pattern.
In Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher, the title character catches a stickleback, only to regret his catch and incur the laughter of the tiny fish in his pond.