ABSTRACT
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Being widely distributed in the northern hemisphere, where it inhabits virtually all types of waters, the three-spined stickleback shows considerable variability not only in morphology but also in its reproductive strategies and behaviour. Normally, it becomes reproductively active from late April until July, when the male leaves the shoal and settles on the bottom in shallow water to establish a territory. When he has completed the construction of a nest, he begins to attract females through characteristic courtship dances. The female responds with her own dance, but after
she has laid her eggs in his nest, she leaves the male alone to attend to the eggs until they hatch.
