Occitan language: Gascon, in the southwest of France, is usually classified as an Occitan dialect, though to most other southerners it is today less readily comprehensible than Catalan. Some scholars claim that it has always been distinct from Occitan, because of the influence of a non-Celtic Aquitanian…

Jean Gascon was a Canadian actor and director, cofounder of the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (1951) and cofounder of the National Theatre School (1960). While studying medicine at various universities, Gascon gained attention as an actor with Les Compagnos de St. Laurent (1942–45). Equally versed in

Gasconade River, river in south-central Missouri, U.S. It rises in the Ozark Mountains and flows northeastward into the Missouri River near Hermann, in north Gasconade county. The 250-mile (400-km) river, noted for its fishing, has dams at Richland and

Gascony, historical and cultural region encompassing the southwestern French départements of Landes, Gers, and Hautes-Pyrénées and parts of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Lot-et-Garonne, Tarn-et-Garonne, Haute-Garonne, and Ariège and coextensive with the historical region of Gascony. During ancient Roman

Gascoyne River, ephemeral river of west-central Western Australia. It rises in the northeastern Robinson Ranges west of the Gibson Desert, flows generally westward for 475 miles (760 km) through gold-mining and sheep-raising country, and empties into the Indian Ocean at Carnarvon on Shark Bay. It

David Gascoyne was an English poet deeply influenced by the French Surrealist movement of the 1930s. Gascoyne’s first book of poems, Roman Balcony, appeared in 1932 when he was only 16, and his only novel, Opening Day, appeared the next year. The royalty advance for Opening Day enabled him to visit

David Gascoyne was an English poet deeply influenced by the French Surrealist movement of the 1930s. Gascoyne’s first book of poems, Roman Balcony, appeared in 1932 when he was only 16, and his only novel, Opening Day, appeared the next year. The royalty advance for Opening Day enabled him to visit

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil was a British statesman and winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1937. He was one of the principal draftsmen of the League of Nations Covenant in 1919 and one of the most loyal workers for the League until its supersession by the United Nations in 1945.

James Edward Hubert Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th marquess of Salisbury was a British statesman and Conservative politician whose recommendations on defense became the basis of the British military organization until after World War II. Salisbury was educated at Eton and at University College, Oxford. As a

Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd marquess of Salisbury was a Conservative political leader who was a three-time prime minister (1885–86, 1886–92, 1895–1902) and four-time foreign secretary (1878, 1885–86, 1886–92, 1895–1900), who presided over a wide expansion of Great Britain’s colonial

biogeochemical cycle: Gaseous cycles include those of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, and water; sedimentary cycles include those of iron, calcium, phosphorus, sulfur, and other more-earthbound elements.

nuclear reactor: Enrichment: …a large scale; these are gaseous diffusion and gas centrifuging. In gaseous diffusion, natural uranium in the form of uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6), a product of chemical conversion, is encouraged (through a mechanical process) to seep through a porous barrier. The molecules of 235UF6 penetrate the barrier slightly faster than…

nebula, any of the various tenuous clouds of gas and dust that occur in interstellar space. The term was formerly applied to any object outside the solar system that had a diffuse appearance rather than a pointlike image, as in the case of a star. This definition, adopted at a time when very

gas, one of the three fundamental states of matter, with distinctly different properties from the liquid and solid states. The remarkable feature of gases is that they appear to have no structure at all. They have neither a definite size nor shape, whereas ordinary solids have both a definite size

kinetic theory of gases, a theory based on a simplified molecular or particle description of a gas, from which many gross properties of the gas can be derived. The British scientist James Clerk Maxwell and the Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann, in the 19th century, led in establishing the theory,

gas: Kinetic-molecular picture: …and for many years a static picture of gases was instead espoused, in which the pressure, for instance, was attributed to repulsive forces between essentially stationary particles pushing on the container walls. How the kinetic-molecular picture finally came to be universally accepted is a fascinating piece of scientific history and…

Kaska, member of an ancient Anatolian people who inhabited the remote valleys between the northern border of the Hittite kingdom and the Black Sea. The Kaskans did not have a written language and did not build cities. They are known only through Hittite accounts, which describe them as weavers of

Jashpur Pats: Gash Pahar (3,241 feet [988 meters]) and Laki Hill (3,323 feet [1,013 meters]) are two of the higher peaks in the Jashpur Pats. The Maini, Ib, Mand, and Kuskal rivers have cut narrow, rock-strewn valleys.

Gash River, river rising in southern Eritrea, near Asmara. After flowing southward, it turns west and forms the border between Eritrea (north) and Ethiopia (south) along its middle course. It then continues into northeastern Sudan to lose itself in the desert. In time of flood it reaches the Atbara

Reinhold Messner: …climbed the northwestern face of Gasherbrum I (Hidden Peak; 26,470 feet [8,068 metres]) in the Karakoram Range.

Edward Gorey: …alphabets; his most celebrated is The Gashlycrumb Tinies (1962), which disposes of 26 children: “M is for Maud who was swept out to sea / N is for Neville who died of ennui.” He illustrated two books by Edward Lear, including the highly acclaimed The Dong with a Luminous Nose…

morality police, law enforcement body in Iran created in 2005 to enforce regulations on modest dress (ḥijāb) and chaste behavior (ʿifāf). The term “morality police” is informally applied to the body by international commentators, but it is officially called Gasht-e Ershad (Persian: “Guidance

coal gasification, any process of converting coal into gas for use in illuminating and heating. The first illuminating gas was manufactured from coal in England in the late 18th century by the process of carbonization or destructive distillation, heating coal in the absence of air, leaving a

coal utilization: Gasification systems: The operating temperature of a gasifier usually dictates the nature of the ash-removal system. Operating temperatures below 1,000 °C (1,800 °F) allow dry ash removal, whereas temperatures between 1,000 and 1,200 °C (1,800 and 2,200 °F) cause the ash to melt partially and form agglomerates. Temperatures above 1,200 °C result…

comitatus, (Latin: “retinue”), in ancient Republican Rome, an elite company of one of the army commanders. A comitatus was formed in the assembly when one of the leading men announced that he needed followers to accompany him on a foray into enemy territory. Those who were attracted by the

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell was an English novelist, short-story writer, and the first biographer of Charlotte Brontë. She was a daughter of a Unitarian minister. When her mother died, she was brought up by a maternal aunt in the Cheshire village of Knutsford in a kindly atmosphere of rural

rocket and missile system: Surface-to-air: The SA-9 Gaskin carried four infrared-homing missiles on a turreted mount atop a four-wheeled vehicle. Its missiles were larger than the SA-7 and had more sophisticated seeker and guidance systems.

Robert Emden: His famous book Gaskugeln (1907; “Gas Spheres”) was a very important early work on the theory of stellar structure; it develops the physical theory of a gas sphere acted upon by its own gravity. He also devised a hypothesis, no longer taken seriously, to explain sunspots.

fracking: Freshwater contamination: In 2010 Gasland, an American documentary film critical of fracking, created a sensation with its footage of a kitchen faucet spewing flames in Fort Lupton, Colorado. The success of the film (which was nominated for an Academy Award) inspired a number of imitation videos on the Internet.…

Gaslight, American film noir, released in 1944, that centres on murder and madness in Victorian London. The cast included Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, and Angela Lansbury in her screen debut. Bergman portrayed Paula, a young woman who lives with her aunt, a famous opera singer, in

gaslighting: …a 1938 British stage play, Gas Light, which was subsequently produced as a film, Gaslight, in the United Kingdom (1940) and the United States (1944). Those dramas vividly, if somewhat simplistically, depicted some of the basic elements of the technique. These may include: attempting to convince the victims of the…

stagecraft: Early history: …centuries was the introduction of gas lighting. Near the end of the 18th century, the Scottish engineer William Murdock developed a practical method to distill gas from coal for illumination. The first successful adaptation of gas lighting for the stage was demonstrated in the Lyceum Theatre, London, in 1803 by…

the Chicks: That year they released Gaslighter, their first studio album since 2006. Much of the work centers on failed relationships, including the breakup of Maines’s marriage. In 2024 the U.S. Library of Congress added Wide Open Spaces to the National Recording Registry, a list of audio recordings deemed “culturally, historically,…

gaslighting, an elaborate and insidious technique of deception and psychological manipulation, usually practiced by a single deceiver, or “gaslighter,” on a single victim over an extended period. Its effect is to gradually undermine the victims’ confidence in their own ability to distinguish truth

G. Gordon Liddy: Career: … (2023) and Shea Whigham in Gaslit (2022).

corn: Biofuel: …with gasoline to produce “gasohol,” an automotive fuel that is 10 percent ethanol. Although corn-based biofuels were initially touted as environmentally friendly alternatives to petroleum, their production diverts arable land and feedstock from the human food chain, sparking a “food versus fuel” debate. In addition, crops grown for biofuel…

Memphis Grizzlies: …draft, it added Spanish forward Pau Gasol, who would go on become the Grizzlies’ first All-Star player. The team hired basketball icon Jerry West to serve as general manager in 2002. West quickly turned the team’s fortunes around, and in 2003–04 Memphis won 50 games (a 22-win improvement from the…

gasoline, mixture of volatile, flammable liquid hydrocarbons derived from petroleum and used as fuel for internal-combustion engines. It is also used as a solvent for oils and fats. Originally a by-product of the petroleum industry (kerosene being the principal product), gasoline became the

reggaeton: In 2004 he released “Gasolina,” which became a global hit. Soon after, major record labels in the United States sought to sign reggaeton performers, and several radio stations converted to reggaeton stations. The music industry, however, was changing amid the growing digital era and such online radio applications as…

Gregory Corso: …all Corso’s poems, those in Gasoline (1958) are the most typical, using the rhythmic, incantatory style effective in spoken verse. In The Happy Birthday of Death (1960) he returned to an easier, conversational tone. Long Live Man (1962), Selected Poems (1962), The Mutation of the Spirit (1964), Elegiac Feelings American…

gasoline, mixture of volatile, flammable liquid hydrocarbons derived from petroleum and used as fuel for internal-combustion engines. It is also used as a solvent for oils and fats. Originally a by-product of the petroleum industry (kerosene being the principal product), gasoline became the

Gasoline Alley, long-running comic strip created by Frank King during his tenure as a cartoonist at the Chicago Tribune. King named the strip Gasoline Alley because it dealt with a group of automobile enthusiasts who met in an alley. The strip appeared first in 1919, and in 1921 its narrative was

Rod Stewart: Solo career: Gasoline Alley (1970) sold better and was well received by critics, but it hardly suggested what would happen in 1971. Every Picture Tells a Story charted at number one in Britain and the United States simultaneously; the single “Maggie May” repeated the feat; and Rolling…

Molotov cocktail, a crude bomb, typically consisting of a bottle filled with a flammable liquid and a wick that is ignited before throwing. It is named for Vyacheslav Molotov, the foreign minister of the Soviet Union during and after World War II, though Molotov was not its inventor. It is also

gasoline engine, any of a class of internal-combustion engines that generate power by burning a volatile liquid fuel (gasoline or a gasoline mixture such as ethanol) with ignition initiated by an electric spark. Gasoline engines can be built to meet the requirements of practically any conceivable

bus: Development: …States, both of which built gasoline-electric models. In these buses a gasoline engine drove a direct-current generator, and the output of the generator provided electrical power for the driving motors on the rear wheels. In 1928 transcontinental bus service was initiated in the United States. In 1931 the first rear…

Gaspar, a legendary figure in certain Western Christian traditions, said to have been one of the three Magi who paid homage to the infant Jesus. Gaspar is often represented as a king of India and is usually said to have given the gift of frankincense to the Christ Child. In art he is frequently

Gerardus Mercator: …also frequented the workshop of Gaspar à Myrica, an engraver and goldsmith. The combined work of these three men soon made Leuven an important centre for the construction of globes, maps, and astronomical instruments. In 1534 Mercator married Barbara Schellekens, by whom he had six children.

animation: Animation in Europe: …collaborated on a process called Gasparcolor, which, as utilized in his 1935 film Composition in Blue, won a prize at that year’s Venice Film Festival. The following year, he immigrated to Hollywood, where he worked on special effects for a number of films and was the initial designer of the…

Caspar de Crayer was a Flemish painter of religious subjects and portraits, who was strongly influenced by his friend Peter Paul Rubens. De Crayer was a pupil of Raphael Coxcie in Brussels, where he became a master in the painters’ guild in 1607 and resided as a much-honoured citizen until 1664. In

Aloysius Bertrand: …France) was a writer whose Gaspard de la nuit (“Gaspard of the Night”) introduced the prose poem into French literature and was a source of inspiration to the Symbolist poets and later to the Surrealists.

French literature: Other literature of the 1970s: …novel Gaspard, Melchior, Balthasar (1980; The Four Wise Men) were subversive rewritings of ancient tales. Other writers provided more direct responses to the political and economic frustrations of the decade: J.M.G. Le Clézio’s apocalyptic fictions, for example, evoked the alienation of life in technological, consumerist society.

Zheng Zhilong was a Chinese pirate leader who achieved great power in the transitional period between the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911/12) dynasties. As a boy, Zheng found employment with the Europeans in the Portuguese settlement at Macau, where he was baptized and given the Christian name

Florida: Cultural life: The Gasparilla Pirate Fest, comparable to the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans, is held in Tampa in February, in association with the state fair.

meringue: …a Swiss pastry cook named Gasparini.

Gasparo Angiolini was an Italian choreographer and composer who was among the first to integrate dance, music, and plot in dramatic ballets. In 1757 he became ballet master of the Vienna court opera house, where his first ballet dramas frequently relied upon gesture to convey plot. In 1761,

Slovakia: History of Slovakia: Ivan Gašparovič of the Movement for Democracy party defeated Mečiar in the presidential election that year, and the economy continued to grow. Parliamentary elections in 2006 resulted in yet another coalition of ruling parties, with the leader of the populist party Smer, Robert Fico, becoming…

Pietro Gasparri was an Italian cardinal who, by appointment of Pope St. Pius X, in 1904 directed the new Code of Canon Law, a systematic arrangement of ecclesiastical law now practiced by the Roman Catholic church. Ordained in 1877, Gasparri was professor of canon law at the Catholic Institute,

Gaspé, city, Gaspésie region, eastern Quebec province, Canada. It lies at the mouth of the York River, overlooking Gaspé Bay. The city’s name derives either from the navigator Gaspar Corte-Real, who came there about 1500, or from the Indian gespeg, meaning “end of the world.” Its site was visited

Gaspé Current, outflow from the St. Lawrence River, which moves around the Gaspé Peninsula and along the southern shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It merges with a cold branch of the Labrador (Cabot) Current before flowing through the Cabot Strait and into the North Atlantic Ocean. The current

Gaspé Peninsula, peninsula in eastern Quebec province, Canada. The peninsula extends east-northeastward for 150 miles (240 km) from the Matapédia River into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is situated between the St. Lawrence River (north) and Chaleur Bay and New Brunswick (south). The well-forested

Philippe Aubert de Gaspé was the author of the early French Canadian novel Les Anciens Canadiens (1863), which strongly influenced later regionalist writers in Canada. The son of a distinguished Quebec family, Gaspé inherited the family estate on the St. Lawrence River. He received a classical

Burning of the Gaspee, (June 10, 1772), in U.S. colonial history, act of open civil defiance of British authority when Rhode Islanders boarded and sank the revenue cutter Gaspee in Narragansett Bay. Headed by a leading merchant, John Brown, eight boatloads of armed reputable citizens overpowered

alewife, (Pomolobus, or Alosa, pseudoharengus), important North American food fish of the herring family, Clupeidae. Deeper-bodied than the true herring, the alewife has a pronounced saw-edge on the underside; it grows to about 30 cm (1 foot). Except for members of a few lake populations, it spends

Alcide De Gasperi was a politician and prime minister of Italy (1945–53) who contributed to the material and moral reconstruction of his nation after World War II. From the age of 24 De Gasperi directed the journal Il Nuovo Trentino, in which he defended Italian culture and the economic interests

Gaspesian Provincial Park, park in eastern Quebec province, Canada. The park occupies 500 square miles (1,295 square km) on the Gaspé Peninsula, near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. It was established in 1937 to protect the fast-diminishing herds of caribou as well as to preserve the natural

Gaspé Peninsula, peninsula in eastern Quebec province, Canada. The peninsula extends east-northeastward for 150 miles (240 km) from the Matapédia River into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is situated between the St. Lawrence River (north) and Chaleur Bay and New Brunswick (south). The well-forested

Ismail Gasprinski was a journalist and writer who was an advocate of pan-Turkism and whose writings significantly contributed to the growth of cultural identity within the Turkic community of Russia. Gasprinski, a Crimean Tatar, was educated at a Moscow military school. In 1871 he traveled to

Ismail Gasprinski was a journalist and writer who was an advocate of pan-Turkism and whose writings significantly contributed to the growth of cultural identity within the Turkic community of Russia. Gasprinski, a Crimean Tatar, was educated at a Moscow military school. In 1871 he traveled to

gas plant, (Dictamnus albus), gland-covered herb of the rue family (Rutaceae). Gas plant is native to Eurasia and is grown as an ornamental in many places. The flowers (white or pink) and the leaves give off a strong aromatic vapour that can be ignited—hence the names gas plant and burning bush.

Galileo: …Galileo flew past the asteroids Gaspra (October 29, 1991) and Ida (August 28, 1993), thereby providing the first close-up views of such bodies; in the process, it discovered a tiny satellite (Dactyl) orbiting Ida. Galileo also furnished a unique perspective of the collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter as…

Ismail Gasprinski was a journalist and writer who was an advocate of pan-Turkism and whose writings significantly contributed to the growth of cultural identity within the Turkic community of Russia. Gasprinski, a Crimean Tatar, was educated at a Moscow military school. In 1871 he traveled to

Ismail Gasprinski was a journalist and writer who was an advocate of pan-Turkism and whose writings significantly contributed to the growth of cultural identity within the Turkic community of Russia. Gasprinski, a Crimean Tatar, was educated at a Moscow military school. In 1871 he traveled to

Francis Aidan Gasquet was an English Roman Catholic historian, a cardinal from 1914, and prefect of the Vatican archives from 1917. Educated at Downside School (Somerset), Gasquet entered the Benedictine monastery there and was prior from 1878 to 1885. From 1888 onward he published works on

Francis Aidan Gasquet was an English Roman Catholic historian, a cardinal from 1914, and prefect of the Vatican archives from 1917. Educated at Downside School (Somerset), Gasquet entered the Benedictine monastery there and was prior from 1878 to 1885. From 1888 onward he published works on

William H. Gass was an American writer noted for his experimentation with stylistic devices. Gass called his fiction works “experimental constructions,” and each of his books contains stylistic innovations. His first novel, Omensetter’s Luck (1966), is about a man whose purity and good fortune are

William H. Gass was an American writer noted for his experimentation with stylistic devices. Gass called his fiction works “experimental constructions,” and each of his books contains stylistic innovations. His first novel, Omensetter’s Luck (1966), is about a man whose purity and good fortune are

Pierre Gassendi was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, who revived Epicureanism as a substitute for Aristotelianism, attempting in the process to reconcile mechanistic atomism with the Christian belief in an infinite God. Born into a family of commoners, Gassendi received his early

Pierre Gassendi was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, who revived Epicureanism as a substitute for Aristotelianism, attempting in the process to reconcile mechanistic atomism with the Christian belief in an infinite God. Born into a family of commoners, Gassendi received his early

Herbert Spencer Gasser was an American physiologist, corecipient (with Joseph Erlanger) of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1944 for fundamental discoveries concerning the functions of different kinds of nerve fibres. At Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. (1916–31), where he was

textile: Singeing: Also called gassing, singeing is a process applied to both yarns and fabrics to produce an even surface by burning off projecting fibres, yarn ends, and fuzz. This is accomplished by passing the fibre or yarn over a gas flame or heated copper plates…

Edith Piaf was a French singer and actress whose interpretation of the chanson, or French ballad, made her internationally famous. Among her trademark songs were “Non, je ne regrette rien” (“No, I Don’t Regret Anything”) and “La Vie en rose” (literally “Life in Pink” [i.e., through “rose-coloured

Italy: Lombard Italy: …either a duke or a gastald governed each city and its territory; the difference seems to have been principally one of status. In the southern duchies, local rulers were all gastalds. These officials were in charge of the local law courts, led the city army, and administered the royal lands…

Italy: Lombard Italy: …either a duke or a gastald governed each city and its territory; the difference seems to have been principally one of status. In the southern duchies, local rulers were all gastalds. These officials were in charge of the local law courts, led the city army, and administered the royal lands…

migrant labour: Migrant labour around the world: …labour shortage, attracting several million workers from Turkey, Greece, Italy, and Yugoslavia. The same phenomenon drew many workers to France from North Africa, Spain, and Italy, while Britain pulled workers from its former colonies in South Asia, Africa, and the West Indies. After western Europe’s economic growth tapered off in…

Badgastein, town in the Gastein Valley of west-central Austria, on the Gasteiner Ache (river). Its radioactive thermal springs have been visited since the 13th century, and royal and other eminent patrons brought it world renown in the 19th century. Now one of Austria’s most important spas and

Gastein Valley, side valley of the Salzach River, in Bundesland (federal state) Salzburg, west-central Austria. Lying along the north slope of the Hohe Tauern Mountains and traversed by the Gasteiner River, it is a popular scenic area centred on the resorts of Badgastein (q.v.) and Bad

Convention of Gastein, agreement between Austria and Prussia reached on Aug. 20, 1865, after their seizure of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark in 1864; it temporarily postponed the final struggle between them for hegemony over Germany. The pact provided that both the emperor of

Gastein Valley, side valley of the Salzach River, in Bundesland (federal state) Salzburg, west-central Austria. Lying along the north slope of the Hohe Tauern Mountains and traversed by the Gasteiner River, it is a popular scenic area centred on the resorts of Badgastein (q.v.) and Bad

Vitoria-Gasteiz, capital of Álava provincia (province), in Basque Country comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), northeastern Spain. It is located north of the Vitoria Hills on the Zadorra River, southwest of San Sebastián. Founded as Victoriacum by the Visigothic king Leovigild to celebrate

Romanian literature: The 20th century: Moses Gaster pioneered modern Romanian folklore research.

myth: Performing arts: …of drama are obscure, but Theodor Gaster, an American historian of religion, has suggested that in the ancient eastern Mediterranean world the interrelationship of myth and ritual created drama. Elsewhere, dramatic presentations (as in Japanese nō plays and the Javanese wayang) are similarly rooted in myth.

gasteromycetes, name often given to a subgroup of fungi consisting of more than 700 species in the phylum Basidiomycota (kingdom Fungi). Their spores, called basidiospores, are borne within a variety of fruiting bodies (basidiocarps) that are often spherical or egg-shaped and resemble mushrooms.

ostariophysan: Annotated classification: Family Gasteropelecidae (hatchetfishes) Deep, strongly compressed body; pectoral fins with well-developed musculature. Capable of true flight. Insectivorous. Aquarium fishes. Size to 10 cm (4 inches). South and Central America. 3 genera, 9 species. Family Anostomidae (headstanders

hatchetfish: …hatchetfish (Carnegiella strigata), and the silver hatchetfish (Gasteropelecus sternicula), which is olive above and silver below.

bot fly: Horse bot flies (subfamily Gasterophilinae) include species of Gasterophilus, a serious horse pest. The adult horse fly, often known as a gad fly, deposits between about 400 and 500 eggs (nits) on the horse’s forelegs, nose, lips, and body. The larvae remain in the eggs…

stickleback, any of about eight species of fishes in five genera of the family Gasterosteidae (order Gasterosteiformes) found in fresh, brackish, and marine waters in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere as far north as the Arctic Ocean. Sticklebacks are small, elongated fishes that reach a

gasterosteiform, (order Gasterosteiformes), any member of a group of fishes characterized generally by tubular mouths, soft fin rays, pelvic fins located on the abdomen, an air bladder without a duct to the gut, and a primitive kidney. Gill structures are somewhat degenerate. Most species have bony

gasterosteiform, (order Gasterosteiformes), any member of a group of fishes characterized generally by tubular mouths, soft fin rays, pelvic fins located on the abdomen, an air bladder without a duct to the gut, and a primitive kidney. Gill structures are somewhat degenerate. Most species have bony

stickleback: The three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) is widespread in the Northern Hemisphere in fresh and salt water. It is 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 inches) long and has three dorsal spines. The nine-spined stickleback (Pungitius pungitius), a species that is similar in size to G.…