prickleback   (TTS Sound)

The noun prickleback has 2 senses

• prickleback -- (small elongate fishes of shallow northern seas; a long dorsal fin consists entirely of spines)


• stickleback, prickleback -- (small (2-4 inches) pugnacious mostly scaleless spiny-backed fishes of northern fresh and littoral waters having elaborate courtship; subjects of much research)