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Pungitius laevis (Cuvier, 1829)

Smoothtail ninespine stickleback
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Pungitius laevis
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Perciformes/Gasterosteoidei (Sticklebacks) > Gasterosteidae (Sticklebacks and tubesnouts)
Etymology: Pungitius: Name meaning one that pricks;  laevis: Name in Latin 'laevis' meaning smooth, referring to the absence of keel on the caudal peduncle..
More on author: Cuvier.

Issue
Often misidentified as Pungitius pungitius (Linnaeus, 1758) that it replaces in northwesternmost Europe..

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; freshwater; brackish; benthopelagic. Temperate

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Euorope: coastal areas of western Europe from Netherlands to the Garonne drainage (France), Ireland and southern Great Britain.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 8.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 59043)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 9. This species is redescribed and is distinguished from congeners by the absence of keel as the only diagnostic character; with lower number of dorsal spines 9 (vs. 10 in P. pungitius); head rounded with a concave snout (specimens longer than 35 mm SL) accentuating the impression of fleshy lips; dorsal spines 8-9; anal soft rays 7-11; scutes on the caudal peduncle 0-4; pectoral-fin rays 10-11. Colouration: body generally bright green with dark tints, covered by blackish blotches, which are absent on the pectoral and abdominal regions (Ref. 125067).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Adults inhabit shallow still water with dense vegetation. Feed predominantly on zooplankton, small crustaceans and benthic insects. Spawn for the first time at 1 year of age. Spawning takes place in April-June (Ref. 59043). Males build, guard and aerate the nest where the eggs are deposited (Ref. 205).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

"Males build a nest hanging to aquatic vegetation and take care of eggs and larvae. Eggs hatch in 10-20 days. Dies at end of spawning season" (Ref. 59043).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Kottelat, M. and J. Freyhof, 2007. Handbook of European freshwater fishes. Publications Kottelat, Cornol and Freyhof, Berlin. 646 pp. (Ref. 59043)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 01 January 2008

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet compositions
Food consumptions
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
Growths
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversions
Recruitments
Abundances
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturities
Fecundities
Spawnings
Spawning aggregations
Egg(s)
Egg developments
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Gill areas
Brains
Otoliths
Physiology
Body compositions
Nutrients
Oxygen consumptions
Swimming type
Swimming speeds
Visual pigment(s)
Fish sounds
Diseases / Parasites
Toxicities (LC50s)
Genetics
Genetics
Electrophoreses
Heritabilities
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
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References
References

Tools

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5020   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00501 (0.00252 - 0.00995), b=3.00 (2.81 - 3.19), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.5   ±0.2 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Assuming Fec < 1,000).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (10 of 100).