The stickleback that builds the nursery

Holder’s 1899 account flips the usual nest story: the female takes little interest, while the male builds. He gathers soft weed and refuse into an oval pouch, sometimes on the bottom, sometimes suspended like a tiny hammock. Silk-like threads bind it; he butts an opening through the nest for the eggs. The father then guards the eggs and fans water over them to keep fungus from taking hold. Holder watched him suck wandering fry into his mouth and shoot them back into the nest.