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The Misty Lake Stickleback species pair is a small freshwater fish found in a single lake-stream system on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The pair consists of a lake dwelling (lentic) and a stream dwelling (lotic) variety. The species is a small fish (~51mm length) with three isolated, stout dorsal spines. The body is elongated and laterally thin, tapering where the tail joins the body. The stream form of these pairs is mottled brown and robust-bodied, while the lake form is more darkly coloured, slender-bodied and has longer spines and more gill rakers than the lotic form. The Misty Lake sticklebacks are refered to as a species pair because the two forms live in contact with some overlapping habitat, but there is minimal breeding between the two types meaning that they remain genetically distinct. Given their close proximity and highly divergent characterisitcs, these pairs are invaluable to the study of evolutionary processes.
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