fifteen-spined stickleback
Spinachia spinachia (Linnaeus, 1758)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Spinachia is a monospecific genus of ray-finned fish belonging to the family Gasterosteidae, the sticklebacks. The only species in the genus is Spinachia spinachia, the sea stickleback, fifteen-spined stickleback or fifteenspine stickleback, a species which lives in benthopelagic and in brackish environments of the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. This species, the largest of the sticklebacks, grows to a length of 22 centimetres (8.7 in) SL. This species is the only known member of its genus Spinachia. It is of no interest as a commercial fish.
Wikipedia contributors, Spinachia; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:03:59.997355+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Spinachia spinachia (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common name
- fifteen-spined stickleback
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Gasterosteidae
- Genus
- Spinachia
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderPerciformes
- suborderGasterosteoidei
- familyGasterosteidae Bonaparte, 1831
- genusSpinachia Cuvier, 1816
- speciesSpinachia spinachia (Linnaeus, 1758)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Gasterosteus spinachia Linnaeus, 1758 Linnaeus, 1758 | synonym |
| Spinachia vulgaris Fleming, 1828 Fleming, 1828 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=126508 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4Z53X. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.