Where do pike live? Pike. Types of pike

Common pike. Amur pike.

Inhabitants of North America

Black, striped or chain pike. Northern redfin. Southern herbal.

Muskie pike. Tiger pike or tiger muskie.

Another fish is called pike; it is a shellfish, which has no relation to the pike family and belongs to the ray-finned fish, which also lives on the American continent.

Pike pike

Common pike description of the species

Predator biology

The common pike (Esox lucius) has an elongated, log-like body, slightly compressed laterally. The animal's head appears elongated due to its long jaws. The upper jaw is flattened and descends at an angle to the lower jaw, which protrudes forward.

The back of the body sharply narrows from below and above by about half, turning into a V-shaped tail.

The body has two paired pectoral, abdominal and one dorsal and anal fins almost near the tail. All fins are rounded, including the tail.

The predator's eyes are large and located quite high, which allows it to control a large plane in search of prey and danger without turning its head.

The color of the common pike depends on its habitat and age; it can be grayish with shades of green, yellow or brown. The back of the predator is dark gray, sometimes almost black. Light spots are scattered throughout the body of young individuals, which at first glance seem like spots; with age, the spots become smaller and spread over the entire body except the back.
The fins and tail are red with dark stripes or spots.

As you can see in the photo, the fish’s mouth is strewn with sharp teeth, the upper jaw has small brush-like teeth directed inward, and the lower jaw has large fangs.

When swallowing, the upper teeth press against the palate, pushing the prey into the larynx. The lower ones serve to hold the victim.

The fanged teeth tend to change periodically, which affects the size preference of the victims. Until the new ones get stronger, even the largest one chooses small prey.

It is interesting that pike is a cousin of the order Salmonidae (taimen, whitefish, grayling, smelt, etc.). North American pike, muskie, striped, redfin are direct relatives of the common pike and belong to the Pike family (Esocidae)

Size

Fishermen divide common pike into two types: grass and deep.

• The herb most often lives in floodplain lakes, oxbow lakes and shallow rivers. The size of the predator rarely reaches 0.5 meters in length and weighs more than 2 kg.
• Deep pike is found in large lakes, reservoirs and rivers with depths of more than 5 meters, can grow up to 1.5 meters and weigh up to 35 kg. Fishermen most often catch 2-5 kilogram trophies.

In the southern regions rich in food resources, by the end of the first year of life the pup reaches 25 cm, with a maximum size of 90 cm by 5-6 years. Northern respectively 12 cm and maximum by 10-12 years

Females, usually larger than males, have less elongated bodies and live longer. Although fishermen divide pike into two species, this is most likely not the case; it is simply easier to hide in shallow water and not become a victim of their larger counterparts. And the food supply near the shore for growing small fish is richer. Growing pike move from shallow places to deeper places, sliding into pools and holes.

Habitats

Pike lives in fresh water bodies of Eurasia and North America. It is found both in coastal areas overgrown with grass or snags, and in deep pools, holes in rivers and lakes.

The older the predator becomes, the deeper and farther from the shore it prefers places during the daytime. In the evening, night and early morning hours, large,
Fairway pike can be found hunting near the shore and in shallow water.

Pike is a cold-loving fish; an interesting fact is that fish living in the northern regions grow more slowly, live longer and are larger than those living in warm southern rivers and lakes.

Lifestyle

For a normal life of a small 50 cm pike, an area of ​​20-30 square meters is sufficient. meters, for a large bottom inhabitant 50-70 square meters. meters. The area may be inhabited by several pikes. Which hunt in turns, while one digests food, the others sit in ambush. Larger specimens always displace their smaller counterparts from their homes.

With age, the common pike becomes a loner and prefers to sit in ambush, waiting for prey. Although if the food supply is small, it can move around the reservoir in search of food. Small squints are approximately the same size; sometimes they hunt in schools, accompanying the moving fry of other fish.

To search for prey, the pike uses the visual function and lateral line (seismosensory orientation), or uses the perception of the smell of the prey. Juveniles do not have the ability to sense chemical landmarks and feed only on moving objects.

Large pike have virtually no enemies, with the exception of humans, larger catfish and taimen. Therefore, in a hole where catfish stand or taimen hunt, you will not find pike.

A long, slender body with a pointed head, wide rear fins and a tail allows the predator to develop a high throwing speed (over 2.79 m/s), which is much faster than the speed of roach when frightened (1.22 m/s), perch (1. 65), bleak and even less (0.5 m/s).

Nutrition

Pike is an exceptional meat eater. Having hatched from the egg, it remains lying on the bottom in the spawning area for 8-12 days, until the yolk bubble disappears. Then, feeling hungry, it begins to spread out across the reservoir, sticking to shallow places and feeding on small invertebrates, worms and insects. They hunt fry of other fish species, roach, crucian carp, starting in June and already in August-September fish predominate in their diet. Shchury pups grow very quickly, within a year they reach a size of 15 centimeters and a weight of 150 grams, and in the third year of life they reach 42 cm and weigh 600-700 grams.

Although pike prefers a fish menu, it can also eat small vertebrate rodents, chicks of waterfowl and frogs.

Feeding activity largely depends on water temperature.

Table of temperatures in degrees Celsius.

There were cases when villagers specifically hunted for a large pike that settled not far from the place where ducklings and goslings were walking. Periodically attacking chicks, it can cause great damage to the farm.

Typically, the common pike feeds in the morning and evening, and rests during the day and night, digesting food.
During zhora, which happens most often three times a year, it feeds almost around the clock, in which it is helped by the lateral line and sense of smell.

The first zhor occurs during the pre-spawning period - late February, March, early April. Second after spawning, May, early June. Third mid-August, September, mid-October.

Low, constant pressure has a beneficial effect on the activity of the predator. High, stable pressure, in good weather, puts her into a stupor. The longer this weather lasts, the stronger the hunger will be.

During the spring flood, a huge number of pike enter the floodplain to spawn; after spawning, they go back to the rivers. The hatched fry slide into small lakes and streams. Where, growing up, they kill almost all the fish of other species, their smaller brothers and even beetles. Sometimes you come across lakes in which there are no other fish except pike.

Spawning

The female predator reaches sexual maturity in the third or fourth year of life, the male in the fifth. In spring, when the water warms up to 3-6 degrees, spawning begins. Pike is one of the first to spawn, this is due to the fact that the growing small pike fish can feed on young cyprinids that spawn later.

Small young individuals are the first to enter the spawning area, gathering in shallow water in small groups of 4-5. The group usually includes 3-4 males and one female. A large female can have up to 8 males. The spawning small fish are followed by the turn of the medium and, at the end of the second week, the largest individuals.

Caviar, 2-3 mm in diameter, has a greenish-yellow color and, when properly salted, tastes very pleasant. The amount of eggs spawned depends on the size of the female; it can be from 17 to 215 thousand. Egging occurs in places with depths of 20-100 cm. Some of the eggs fall to the bottom, some stick to plants. After 3 days, all eggs fall to the bottom and continue to develop. The development of eggs depends on water temperature and can last from 8 to 14 days.

The hatched fry are 6.7-7.6 mm, rise to the surface, cling to plants with special protrusions on the upper unformed jaw and continue development until the yolk sac dissolves. After which they detach from the plants and begin to eat crustaceans and daphnia, developing and acquiring the appearance of a pike.

Having reached a length of 12-15 mm, squirrels begin to hunt for cyprinid fry. Growing up to 50 mm, the fish completely switch to feeding on fish. In reservoirs with a small food supply, fry 3-4 mm in size already resort to cannibalism.

If a pike of this size is kept in an aquarium and fed with crustaceans, it will soon die. The energy obtained from crustaceans is not enough for the life of a predator.

Sometimes the not very sticky eggs stick to the paws of birds devouring them and can be transported over considerable distances to bodies of water previously uninhabited by predators.

In the northern regions there are lakes completely populated by cannibals, where fry feed on crustaceans, larger pike feed on fry, and they, in turn, are eaten by even larger ones.

Cycle of life

There are legends that a pike can live up to almost 300 years and during this time reach almost 6 meters in length, but ichthyologists have proven that the age of the fish does not exceed 35 years, and the length is 2 meters.
In the presence of a reservoir rich in food, pike fry in the first year reaches a size of 30 cm and a weight of 350 grams.

This is what the predator growth chart looks like, maximum dimensions.

By the age of 35, out of the same number of fry of females and males, only females remain, which reach 30 kg in weight and 1.8 meters in length.

How they catch

Amateur gear.

Pike is a common predator and primarily feeds on fish; accordingly, it is caught with live fish or its imitation.
Live bait is used for fishing, both in summer and in winter, with girders of various designs.

In summer they also use tackles, which come in different types.

A tackle is something like a trap for holding a dead fish or a silicone replica when fishing with a spinning rod or a fishing rod.

Artificial baits for catching predators have a very wide variety.

Spoons.

• Oscillating (sound and normal).
• Rotating
• Combined
• Vertical
• Balancers
• Wobblers
• Poppers, spinners.

Jigs

• Twisters, vibrotails

Poaching

• Dragnet
• valve
• Prison
• Trap
• Electric fishing rod
• Dynamite

Recreational pike fishing is carried out in several ways.

• Zherlitsy
• Spinning rods
• path
• Spearfishing

Unconventional fishing methods

• A loop

A thin copper wire with a loop is tied to the stick, which is put on a standing fish during the fishing process. The fishing rod jerks sharply upward, the noose tightens and the predator finds itself trapped. If you don't have wire at hand, you can use willow root as shown in the video.

Another non-traditional type of pike fishing is called “muddying”. On the floodplain there is a drying puddle or hole in which young pike remain. Taking off his shoes or putting boots on his feet, the fisherman enters the water and begins to walk through the puddle, stirring up the water. Due to the raised turbidity, it becomes difficult for the fish to breathe and it rises to the surface of the water. All that remains is to pick it up with your hands and throw it ashore.

Games

The common pike is so popular among fishermen that even games have been invented, such as Fishing Plane, pike fishing, Russian fishing, where anyone can enjoy fishing without leaving home.

Pike in cooking

Although pike meat is not fatty (2-3%) and not very tasty, it is still an indispensable dietary product and, when properly prepared, especially when fresh, acquires a rather pleasant taste.

At different times, pike was treated differently. The ancient Romans did not eat it, the Don Cossacks generally considered it trash because it eats frogs, but in France it is in demand among French women, especially those watching their figure.

Pike is considered a commercial fish and is not only caught, but also raised on fish farms.

Launch into fish ponds

Undoubtedly, the benefits of pike when breeding and growing carp fish species are greater than the harm. By introducing young pike into the fattening pond, the pond is naturally freed from trash fish and small things that eat away at the feed supply of the fatteners. In addition, by the end of the season, neglected juvenile pike grows, gains weight and becomes marketable.

Pike is a large predatory fish up to one and a half meters long. The fish has an elongated body and a large head. The main color is usually grayish, with a brown, yellow or green tint, the back is darker, and large greenish or brownish spots are scattered on the sides. Some reservoirs are inhabited by pikes with a silvery coloration. The fins are round in shape and colored orange, grayish-yellow and brownish.

Spreading

Pike live in fresh water bodies of Europe, North America and Asia. Sometimes these fish are found in sea bays with almost fresh water, for example, in some bays of the Baltic and Azov seas.

Pike prefer to settle in ponds with stagnant water, or in low-flowing reservoirs.

Lifestyle and nutrition of pikes

Pike is a predator. To catch its prey, it hides in the thickets of underwater plants, and, hiding there, motionless waits for an unwary fish. Seeing a suitable victim, the pike suddenly rushes at it, grabs it with its sharp teeth and swallows it whole.

Pike have a good appetite; they easily swallow fish up to half their own length. Most often, the prey of pike are perches, minnows, ruffs, roaches, bream and other fish. A hungry pike can also swallow another pike that is smaller than itself.

These predatory, voracious fish can also hunt other aquatic inhabitants - frogs, crayfish and even ducklings and adult ducks, and on occasion they can grab a rat, squirrel or mouse swimming across a pond.

Reproduction of pikes

At the beginning of spring, as soon as the ice on the pond melts, pike begin to spawn. To do this, they swim closer to the shore to a depth of about one meter. During spawning, one pike can lay up to 215 thousand eggs. The size of the eggs is quite large - approximately 3 mm in diameter. The eggs first stick to the stems and leaves of aquatic plants, and then gradually settle to the bottom - where their subsequent development occurs.

It takes from 8 days to two weeks for the larva to emerge from the egg. After this period is completed, tiny larvae are born, approximately 7 mm long. They gradually grow and at first feed on small crustaceans, and then, when they reach a length of 5 cm, they switch to another type of food - they begin to hunt fry of other fish.

• Pike is a valuable commercial fish. They catch it using a spinning rod.
• There are known cases of catching pikes whose weight exceeded 40 kg.
• Pike is the heroine of many fairy tales and stories.

Brief information about pike.

Pike is a predatory fish, belongs to the phylum Chordata, class ray-finned fish, order Pike-shaped, family Pike, genus Pike ( Esox).

The origin of the Russian word “pike” does not have a reliable evidence base. According to linguists, the name of the predator comes from the word “frail”. This is how they began to call fish with an elongated, deceptively thin body. According to another version, the word “pike” became a derivative of the common Slavic skeu, meaning “to cut, stab, kill.”

Pike – description of the fish, characteristics, photographs

The average length of pike is 1 meter with an average weight of 8 kilograms. Individual individuals grow up to 1.8 m and have a body weight of up to 35 kg, with females usually larger than males. The body of the fish is distinguished by an elongated, elongated arrow-shaped shape. The pike's head is long, with a narrow snout, and the lower jaw protrudes noticeably forward. The predatory fish is distinguished by an unusual structure of its oral cavity, which is why it is nicknamed the “river shark.”

The pike's teeth, located on the lower jaw, perform the function of capturing prey, have the shape of fangs and are endowed with different sizes. On the upper jaw and other oral bones, the teeth are small, and their points are directed inside the mouth.

When capturing prey, the teeth, which resemble brushes, descend into the mucous membranes of the oral cavity, and when the victim tries to escape, they rise back, blocking the path to freedom.

The mandibular bones are lined with loose epithelium, inside which grow rows consisting of 2-4 replacement teeth. If the main working tooth of a pike ceases to perform its functions, its place is replaced by a soft and movable replacement tooth, which over time firmly grows into the jaw bone. Thus they say that pike changes teeth.

The change of teeth in the lower jaw of pike occurs extremely unevenly. The mouth of pikes simultaneously contains strong working teeth, unstable young ones, as well as old, half-resorbed ones.

The pike's eyes are located quite high, thanks to which the predator can inspect a large area without bothering to turn its head. In addition to good vision, pike fish have a well-functioning lateral line - a tactile organ that responds to the slightest vibrations.

Pike hunts from ambush, patiently and motionlessly standing among the water thickets. Having identified a potential victim, the predator makes a sharp jerk and swallows it, always grabbing the victim by the head.

The body of the fish is covered with relatively small scales, covering the cheeks and skin formations on the gills. The color of pike scales depends on the habitat and surrounding flora.

Pike living in deep water are darker in color than their relatives living in shallow water. The color of fish scales can be grayish-green, gray with yellowish or gray-brown.

The color of the pike's back is dark, the belly is white with grayish spotting. The sides are covered with characteristic olive spots, which, when merging, form wide stripes of different lengths. Unpaired fins are distinguished by a yellow-gray, sometimes brown color with dark spots. The pectoral and ventral fins of pike are usually orange in color.

The narrow dorsal fin is located at the back of the body and is located above the anal fin.

Male and female pike differ in the structure of the urogenital opening: males have a narrow, elongated slit, females have a pink oval-shaped depression.

In accordance with the species and environmental conditions, the life expectancy of pike ranges from 10 to 30 years.

Pike live in freshwater bodies of Eurasia and North America, preferring stagnant water. The fish is found in the Gulfs of Finland and Riga of the Baltic Sea, and feels great in the bays of the Azov Sea. In ponds and lakes, the predator prefers not to swim far from the coastal zone and lives in shallow water, among aquatic debris and dense thickets of coastal aquatic flora. In the river, pike can be found both near the shore and in deep water. Pike live in large numbers at the mouths of rivers flowing into large reservoirs, where there are wide floods and rich aquatic flora. Pike live only in reservoirs with sufficient oxygen; if oxygen drops in winter to 2-3 mg/liter, the fish can die.

What does pike fish eat?

In the spring, after a forced winter fast, pike fish rushes at everything and can pursue the victim for a long time until the chase is crowned with success. Hunting and fattening continue until complete satiety, when the tail of the next prey sticks out of the pike’s mouth. Pike is an extremely voracious and indiscriminate predator in food; it can even eat other pike, especially small ones.

Pike feeds on a variety of fish species: roach, carp, bream, gudgeon, crucian carp, broadmouth, minnow, loach, perch. The pike eats spiny-finned fish, for example the ruffe, carefully, clenching its jaws tightly until the prey stops fluttering. In addition to fish, pike's food includes crayfish, frogs, as well as mice, rats, moles and squirrels, which are forced to overcome water obstacles during seasonal migrations.

If the opportunity arises, a large predator can drag a duckling, as well as an adult duck or drake, to the bottom.

Types of pike, names and photographs

The only genus of Pike has 7 species:

• Common pike(Esox lucius)

the typical and most numerous representative of the genus, inhabiting most fresh water bodies in the countries of Eurasia and North America. The length of the pike reaches 1.5 meters, the average weight is 8 kg. The color of pike varies depending on the environment in which the pike lives: from gray-green and brown shades to gray-yellowish. Common pike lives in stagnant waters, thickets, and the coastal part of the reservoir.

• American pike (redfin pike) (Esox americanus)

lives only in eastern North America. The species is divided into 2 subspecies:

• • northern redfin pike(Esox americanus americanus);
  • southernpike (grass pike) ( Esox americanus vermiculatus) , living in the Mississippi and waterways flowing into the Atlantic Ocean.

Both subspecies cannot boast of large sizes, growing up to 30-45 cm in length, weighing 1 kg and have a shortened snout. The only difference is the lack of orange-colored fins on southern pike. These pikes live no more than 10 years.

• Musk Pike(Esox masquinongy)

a rare species, as well as the largest pike in the family. The inhabitant of the North American continent got its name thanks to the Indians, who called the fish maashkinoozhe, meaning “ugly pike.” The predator received its second name “giant pike” due to its impressive size. Some individuals grow up to 1.8 m and weigh up to 32 kg. The color of pike is silver, brown-brown or green, the sides are covered with spots or vertical stripes.

• Black pike (striped pike) ( Esox niger)

North American predator inhabiting lakes and overgrown rivers from the southern shores of Canada to the state of Florida in the USA and further to the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes. Adult pike grow up to 60 cm in size with a weight of 2 kg and externally resemble the northern common pike. The largest known representative of the species weighed just over 4 kg. Black pikes have a characteristic mosaic pattern on their sides and a distinctive dark stripe above the eyes.

• Amur pike(Esox reicherti)

lives in reservoirs of Sakhalin Island and in the Amur River. Representatives of the species are smaller in size than the common pike: the largest individuals grow up to 115 cm with a body weight of 20 kg. Individuals of the species are characterized by small scales of a silvery or golden-greenish color. The color of the Amur pike resembles taimen, having numerous black-brown spots scattered throughout the body, from head to tail. Amur pike live in lakes for up to 14 years.

• Southern pike (Italian pike) ( Esox cisalpinus or Esox flaviae)

lives in reservoirs of central and northern Italy. The species was first identified in 2011; previously it was considered a subspecies of the common pike.

• Aquitaine pike ( Esox aquitanicus)

lives in the reservoirs of France. This species of pike was first described in 2014.

Pike spawning (reproduction)

The female pike becomes sexually mature at 3-4 years of age, the male pike matures at 5 years. Spawning begins after the ice melts, when the water temperature is only 3-6 degrees. Small pike are the first to spawn, which takes place near the shores, at a depth of up to 1 m; large individuals spawn last. Predators gather in small groups: 2-4 males near a female. Large females can be surrounded by up to 8 male pikes.

The amount of pike eggs depends on the size of the female. One individual spawns from 17 to 215 thousand eggs, the diameter of which is 3 mm. The stickiness of the caviar is weak, some stick to the plants, others immediately fall off. After 3 days, almost all pike eggs lose their stickiness, fall off and continue to develop at the bottom.

The incubation period depends on the heating of the water and can last from 8 to 14 days. The hatched pike larvae are 6.7-7.6 mm long. After the surrounding shell dissolves, the larvae begin to eat copepods and daphnia.

Growing up to 12-15 mm in length, young pike are already capable of successfully absorbing the larvae of carp fish that spawn after the predator. With a fry's body length of 5 cm, the pike diet consists entirely of fry of other fish species.

Pike is considered a popular commercial fish, is actively bred in pond nurseries, and is also the subject of recreational and sport fishing.

• According to fishermen, a pike that falls off a hook remembers the bait that caused it pain. Therefore, the fisherman will have to replace either the bait or change the place of fishing.
• Pike meat contains only 2-3% fat, so it is considered a valuable dietary product.
• Numerous stories about the size of the caught individuals became overgrown with legends and myths over time. Thus, some sources claimed that at the beginning of the 13th century, King Frederick II personally caught a pike, ringed it with a gold ring and released it into the German lake Bjockingen. 267 years later, fishermen caught this particular pike. Over a couple of centuries, the fish grew to almost 6 m in length and weighed 140 kg. The giant's backbone was assigned to one of the cathedrals in Germany. The amazing story was quickly debunked: the spine turned out to be made up of the vertebrae of different pikes, and the emperor at the beginning of the 13th century did not leave Italy and, even if he wanted to, could not fish in a German lake.

Pike, or common pike (lat. Esox lucius) is a fish of the pike family. Distributed in fresh waters of Eurasia and North America. It usually lives in the coastal zone, in aquatic thickets, in stagnant or weakly flowing waters.

It can also be found in desalinated parts of the seas - for example, in the Finnish, Riga and Curonian Lagoons of the Baltic Sea, in the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of ​​Azov. Pike withstands acidic water well and can live comfortably in reservoirs with a pH of 4.75. When the oxygen content decreases to 3.0-2.0 mg/liter, respiratory depression occurs, which is why pike often die in overseas reservoirs in winter.

Domain: Eukaryotes
Kingdom: Animals
Type: Chordata
Class: Ray-finned fish
Order: Salmonidae
Suborder: Pike-like
Family: Pike
Genus: Pike
Species: Pike

PIKE FISHES (ESOCOIDEI) SUBORDER In fish of this group, the fins are supported by soft rays, the pelvic fins are located in the middle of the belly, the dorsal fin is one, moved back and either the whole or the rear part of it is placed above the anal fin. The mouth is bordered by premaxillary bones. The swim bladder is connected to the intestines. The scales are cycloid. Pike-like freshwater fish, widely distributed in the waters of the northern hemisphere. There are two families in this group: pike and umber.

Pike belong to the order Salmonidae.

Record pike table

Pike size and weight chart

Types of pike

There are five species of pike in the world. Two species of pike live on the territory of the Eurasian continent. Common (northern) pike, the most common and Amur pike. And three more species in America. The common pike (Esox lucius) is distributed circumpolarly, in the northern waters of Europe, Asia and America. Its range is one of the most extensive ranges among freshwater fish. Amur pike (E. reicherti) is found only in the Amur basin and Sakhalin. Three species of pike - musky pike (E. masquinongy), striped (E. niger) and redfin (E. americanus) have two subspecies - northern redfin and grassy redfin pike - are common only in the eastern part of North America. Common pike, Amur pike, musky reservoirs with different hydrological regimes, but prefer lakes, lake-like extensions and river bays. These species switch to carnivorous feeding in the first year of life, with a length of about 5 cm, are characterized by a rapid growth rate, reaching significant sizes - 80 cm or more. The largest is musking. These species become sexually mature at a length of 30–40 cm, at 4–6 years of life. Life expectancy is 20 years and a little more. Striped pike is somewhat smaller in size; invertebrates are of great importance in its diet. This species is found more often in lakes and in dammed areas of rivers.

All species of pike, including North American species, have an equal number of chromosomes (2n-50) and easily interbreed with each other under artificial conditions. Dwarf species become sexually mature at 1.5-2 years. Large species become sexually mature at 3-4 years. Males are 6-12 months earlier.

Common pike

(Esox lucius) Length up to 180 cm, weight up to 45 kg (usually up to 1 m and 8 kg). Age up to 20 years.

Amur pike

(E. reicherti) Length up to 110 cm, weight up to 16 kg. Age up to 15 years.

muskellunge pike

(E. masquinongy) Length up to 180 cm, weight up to 45 kg. Age up to 20 years.

Striped pike

(E. niger) Length up to 75 cm, weight up to 4 kg. Age up to 15 years.

Redfin pike

(E. americanus) Length up to 30-40 cm, weight up to 500 grams. Age up to 10 years.

Often, pike come across albino pikes, two photos of which I will give as an example.

Albino pike

Appearance

Length up to 1.8 m, weight up to 45 kg (usually up to 1 m and 8 kg). The body is torpedo-shaped, the head is large, the mouth is wide. The color is variable, depending on the environment: depending on the nature and degree of development of the vegetation, it can be gray-greenish, gray-yellowish, gray-brown, the back is darker, the sides have large brown or olive spots that form transverse stripes. Unpaired fins are yellowish-gray, brown with dark spots; paired ones - orange. It feeds mainly on fish. Silver pike are found in some lakes.

Males and females can be distinguished by the shape of the genital-urinary opening, which in males looks like a narrow oblong slit, colored in the color of the womb, and in females - an oval depression surrounded by a pink ridge.

The body of the pike has an elongated, arrow-shaped shape. The head is greatly elongated, the lower jaw protrudes forward. The teeth on the lower jaw are of different sizes and serve to capture prey. The teeth on other bones of the oral cavity are smaller, with sharp ends directed towards the pharynx and can be embedded in the mucous membrane. Thanks to this, the prey passes easily, and if it tries to escape, the pharyngeal teeth rise and hold the victim.

Pikes are characterized by a change of teeth on the lower jaw: the inner surface of the jaw is covered with soft tissue, under it there are rows of 2-4 replacement teeth, which are adjacent to each active one at the back and form a single group with it (dental family). When a working tooth goes out of use, an adjacent replacement tooth of the same family takes its place. At first it is soft and unstable, but then the base grows tightly to the jaw bone and becomes stronger. Pike teeth do not change at the same time. At the same time, some dental groups end at the edge of the jaw with an old tooth that is already resolving, others with a strong working tooth, and still others with a still mobile young one. In some reservoirs, the change of teeth in pikes increases during certain seasons, and then the pike in these reservoirs stops taking large prey, since it can escape from the mouth of the predator. It is difficult to catch her at this time, since she cannot grab the bait.

Reproduction

In natural reservoirs, female pike begin to reproduce in the fourth, or less often in the third, year of life, and males - in the fifth.

Pike spawning occurs at a temperature of about 6 °C, immediately after the ice melts, near the shore at a depth of 0.5-1 meter. During spawning, fish come out into shallow water and splash noisily. Usually the smallest individuals spawn first, and the largest ones last. At this time, pikes stay in groups: 2-4 males per female; near large females - up to 8 males. The female swims in front, the males swim behind her, lagging behind by about half a body length. They either cling to the sides of the female, or try to stay directly above her back. At this time, the dorsal fins and upper parts of the back of the fish constantly emerge from the water.

During spawning, pikes rub against bushes, roots, reeds and cattails and other objects. The fish do not stay in one place for long; they constantly move around the spawning area and spawn. At the end of spawning, all individuals of the group that spawned rush in different directions, causing a loud splash; in this case, females often jump out of the water into the air.

One female pike, depending on its size, can lay from 17.5 to 215 thousand eggs. The eggs are large, about 3 mm in diameter, weakly sticky, can stick to vegetation, but easily fall off when shaken off. After 2-3 days, the stickiness disappears, most of the eggs roll off and their further development occurs at the bottom. The incubation period is 8-14 days at a temperature of 5-12 degrees, the warmer the water, the faster the stage of incubation of eggs until the larvae appear. After another 6-8 days, the yolk sac is completely reabsorbed and the larvae become fry with a length of 15 mm, which begin to feed on small crustaceans, bloodworms, etc. At a size of 5 cm, the fry begin to become predatory and have a tendency to cannibalism, just like adults.

Normal development of pike eggs on the bottom in still water is possible only because in the spring, at low temperatures, the water is relatively highly saturated with oxygen, and as the water warms up, the oxygen concentration in it quickly drops. Thus, the earlier the pike begin to spawn, the fewer eggs die.

If after the spawning of pike there is a rapid decline in water, this leads to massive death of eggs - this phenomenon is often observed in reservoirs, the level of which is variable.

Life cycle

Pike in a public aquarium (Kotka, Finland)

Depending on the water temperature, the development of eggs takes 8-14 days; the larvae that hatch from them are 6.7-7.6 mm in length. As the residual bubble dissolves, the larvae switch to feeding on external resources: small crustaceans - cyclops and daphnia. With a length of 12-15 mm, pike can already hunt larvae of carp fish. Spawning of carp fish usually occurs after pike, which contributes to the feeding of young pike. After the pike reaches a size of 5 cm, it completely switches to feeding on the fry of other fish, mainly carp. If a pike of this size is kept in an aquarium and fed with small crustaceans, it will die, since the energy costs for obtaining food are not compensated by the nutrients available in such prey.

In the spring, pike, along with melt water, enter the swimming lakes. After some time, the connection between these reservoirs and the river is interrupted and the life of the fry that hatch in such conditions is very different from that in the river or large permanent reservoirs. Given the insufficient food resources, the growth of pike here is extremely uneven; the difference in length between fish of the same age can vary by 2-2.5 times. Small individuals become prey for larger ones; sometimes, with a particular shortage of food resources, pike 3-4 cm long already resort to this type of cannibalism.

It is interesting that such degenerate food chains consisting only of pikes (when fry feed on plankton, large pikes feed on fry, and even larger ones feed on them) are observed on a regular basis in a number of reservoirs. This happens in the northern (usually tundra) lakes of Yakutia and Canada, where the amount of nutrients is extremely small, that is, not enough to support any complex food pyramid; In addition to scientific literature, such “pike lakes” are also described in fiction - for example, in the story of the Polish writer Arkady Fiedler “Canada Smelling of Resin.”

At the same time, despite the extremely simplified structure of the food chain, the ecosystems of such reservoirs have been in a stable form for centuries - researchers have not found any bone remains, except for pike, in such reservoirs in bottom sediments and on the coast; this is also confirmed by the folklore of local residents.

Lifestyle

In a reservoir, pike stay in thickets of aquatic vegetation. Usually she stays there motionless and, hiding, suddenly rushes at her prey. Caught prey is almost always swallowed from the head - if a pike grabs it across the body, then, before swallowing, it quickly turns the prey with its head into the throat. In addition to the fangs with which the predator grabs and kills prey, on the palate, tongue and partly on the cheeks of the pike there are brush teeth that can bend and take a horizontal position, with their tips pointing towards the pharynx. These sharp brush teeth are necessary for the pike not only to hold prey, but also to facilitate swallowing. When the prey tries to escape from the mouth, the pike's teeth rest against the prey with their sharp ends and do not allow it to slip out, pushing it further into the throat.

When attacking, the pike orients itself using vision and the lateral line, the organs of which are developed not only on the midline of the body, but also on the head (mainly on the front part of the lower jaw).

The basis of pike nutrition is made up of representatives of various species of fish, which include: roach, perch, ruffe, bream, silver bream, gudgeon, loach, minnow, sculpin goby, etc. Pike does not disdain representatives of its own species. In spring and early summer, this predator readily eats frogs and molting crayfish. There are cases when pikes grabbed and pulled ducklings under water, as well as mice, rats, waders and squirrels crossing rivers during their migrations. Large pikes can attack even an adult duck, especially during the molting period, when these birds do not rise from the water into the air. It is worth noting that the victims of pike are often fish whose length and weight reach 50%, and sometimes 65% of the length and weight of the predator.

Pike are prone to cannibalism, but individuals of equal size get along well.

The diet of medium-sized pike, about half a meter, is dominated by numerous and low-value fish, so pike is a necessary component of rational fisheries on lakes; due to its absence in the lakes, the number of small ruff and perch sharply increases.

Meaning for humans

Pike in the hands of a fisherman, Drava River, Hungary

In general, pike are quite widely bred in pond farms. For example, in France, out of a total area of ​​100 thousand hectares of ponds, more than 50 thousand are given over to pike breeding.

Pike meat contains 2-3% fat and is a dietary product, especially if the fish is supplied for live consumption.

The maximum age of pike in commercial catch at the present time, as well as over the past several centuries, does not exceed 25 years. The catch of a 33-year-old pike is reliably documented. Stories in popular literature about pikes of much older age should be classified as legends.

Particularly popular among stories of this type is the story of the “Heilbronn pike,” which allegedly was caught personally by Emperor Frederick II in October 1230, marked with a gold ring and released into Lake Bjockingen near Heilbronn, where this pike was caught 267 years later, in 1497. At the same time, it reached a length of 570 centimeters and weighed 140 kg. The spine of this pike was deposited in the Mannheim Cathedral.

This story aroused the interest of the German natural philosopher Oken. Oken studied the historical chronicle in detail and found that Frederick II at that time lived constantly in Italy and could not in any way identify the pike on German territory. It was also possible to examine the spine of a giant pike, exhibited in Mannheim Cathedral. It turned out that this was a falsification, and that it was assembled from the vertebrae of several individual pikes.

No less amazing is the story of the “pike of Tsar Boris Fedorovich,” which occurred in 1794, when, while cleaning the Tsaritsyn ponds near Moscow, a pike with a ring on the gill cover was caught. The inscription engraved on the ring read: “Planted by Tsar Boris Fedorovich.” Since Boris Godunov reigned from 1598 to 1605, it means that the caught pike must have been about 200 years old. But today the veracity of this fact is disputed, since no evidence has survived.

In cooking

It goes on sale live, chilled, frozen and canned. The meat is bony, sometimes smells like mud, contains 18.4% protein, 1.1% fat. Large and medium pike are most often used chopped (for fish cutlets, meatballs) and stuffed, small ones (weighing about 200-300 grams) are boiled in a spicy broth: for 1 kg of fish 0.75 liters of water, 1 root each (carrots, parsley, celery), 1 onion, 3 black peas and 1 allspice pea, 1 bay leaf; cook everything together for 5-7 minutes, then put the fish in the broth and cook until tender (about 20 minutes), always over low heat, avoiding a strong boil, then remove the fish with a slotted spoon, put it on a heated dish, sprinkle with parsley and serve with boiled potatoes and butter. Small pike can also be fried and used for fish soup. In the mid-20th century, the British considered pike the most delicious and expensive fish. In some countries, to this day, pike dishes are considered a delicacy.

Fish caviar is very nutritious and healthy and is a delicacy.

While fishing

First of all, pike is promising for anglers because it feeds all year round and, accordingly, can be caught all year round. As a trophy, it can reach a weight of more than 10 kg, which is the weight of the trophy fish in the world. In addition, its resistance, like that of a fish, can bring a lot of adrenaline and pleasure; it is not for nothing that this fish belongs to the order Salmoniformes.

Description

Pike is a genus of freshwater fish, the only one in the pike family. Pike can reach 1.5 m in length and weigh up to 35 kg (usually up to 1 m and 8 kg). The body is torpedo-shaped, the head is large, the mouth is wide. The color is variable, depending on the environment: depending on the nature and degree of development of the vegetation, it can be gray-greenish, gray-yellowish, gray-brown, the back is darker, the sides have large brown or olive spots that form transverse stripes. Unpaired fins are yellowish-gray, brown with dark spots; paired - orange. Silver pike are found in some lakes. The lifespan of individual individuals can reach up to 30 years.

Pike are extremely voracious predators. They feed mainly on fish (roaches, perches, minnows). Most often, the length of pike is up to 1 m (occasionally up to 1.5 m), weight up to 8-12 kg (occasionally up to 35 kg). The body is elongated, arrow-shaped, with a large head and a wide mouth, studded with numerous sharp teeth slightly directed inward. The gill membranes are not attached to the interbranchial space. The dorsal and anal fins are set far back. The dorsal fin has 5-9 unbranched and 12-16 branched rays, and the anal fin has 4-8 and 10-15, respectively. The scales are small, thin (in the lateral line, located above the middle of the body, from 116 to 144 scales).

The body color of the pike is spotted, dark stripes are located across the body. Depending on living conditions, it may have a gray-greenish, gray-yellowish or gray-brownish tint. The back is usually dark, the belly is whitish with gray speckles. The dorsal, anal and caudal fins are brownish with black spots, the pectoral and abdominal fins are yellowish-red. The overall color of pike is subject to significant changes depending on age and time of year (with age, for example, its color becomes darker). Pike that live in silted lakes with muddy water have a dark color.

Spreading

Pike is widespread in the fresh waters of Eurasia and North America. It usually lives in the coastal zone, in aquatic thickets, in stagnant or weakly flowing waters. In rivers, lakes, and ponds, pike lead a sedentary lifestyle. It can also be found in desalinated parts of the seas - for example, in the Finnish, Riga and Curonian Lagoons of the Baltic Sea, in the Taganrog Bay of the Azov Sea. The pike is very widespread: its range covers almost all of Europe, northern Asia and North America, where, in addition to the European pike, three more species of pike live; it is numerous in the basins of the Baltic, Black, Caspian and Aral seas; in the north it is found from the Kola Peninsula to Anadyr; A special species of Amur pike lives in the Amur basin.

Age and size

Correlation between age and weight of pike

European pike is a large fish, catching pike weighing 5-6 kg is common, sometimes there are individuals over one and a half meters long, weighing up to 24 kg. A pike weighing 34 kg was caught in Lake Ilmen in 1930; at the beginning of the last century, specimens up to 36-38 kg were caught. In 1906 From Lake Pyhijärvi, on the Karelian Isthmus (now Lake Otradnoye), a pike weighing 26.5 kg was recovered, this is probably a record pike catch for the region. Females of pike are larger than males; the largest fish in every body of water are always females.

Stories about catching pikes of allegedly gigantic sizes in the past, for example, about the pike with the ring of Emperor Frederick II Barbarossa, which allegedly lived for 267 years and had a length of 5 m 70 cm, are nothing more than falsification. It turned out that the skeleton of the “long-liver,” which was kept in the cathedral of the city of Mannheim, was made up of the vertebrae of several large pikes.

Lifestyle

Pike is a predator; it is not without reason that it is called the river robber. There is also a saying: “That’s why the pike is in the river, so that the crucian carp doesn’t sleep.” It says it all. Already 15 mm pike fry prey on tiny stickleback larvae or carp fish, although at this time they mainly feed on zooplankton. Shchury pups 5 cm long completely switch to feeding on fish. Pike feed all year round, although in winter feeding activity decreases sharply. The menu for adult pike includes any fish: from loaches and sculpin gobies to whitefish, bream and the pikes themselves. Like most large predators, pike do not form aggregations and live alone or in small groups of same-sized individuals, because larger fish simply eat their smaller brothers. This is especially characteristic of pike where there are few fish, and there are many predators; There are lakes where almost only pike live.

Pike grows very quickly and already in the third year of life it can reach almost half a meter in length. It is not uncommon when catching pike that it turns out that it swallows very large prey: the maximum size of the prey reaches three quarters of the length of the predator. Where, when fishing for pike, it turns out that there is a lot of it, you often come across different fish with traces of its teeth on the body. They eat pike and frogs, tadpoles, molting crayfish, chicks of waterfowl and animals that fall into the water.

There is an opinion among fishermen that the pike does not feed during the change of teeth. This is wrong. A predator's teeth change gradually, not all at once; the loss of one or two teeth does not affect her appetite in any way. The change of teeth, according to the same opinion, occurs in pikes immediately after spawning, therefore, they say, a spawned pike is not caught with live bait or spinners. This is also not entirely true: pikes’ teeth change starting in spring, and the process continues throughout the summer. But the pike does not take the bait for other reasons: most likely, it is simply resting and gaining strength after spawning.

In different bodies of water, pike has different sizes, differs slightly in lifestyle and habits, is found in different numbers, but is the most numerous predator of our rivers and lakes. Its greed and gluttony are well known, so it is much easier to catch a pike than any other large fish.

In natural reservoirs, female pike begin to reproduce in the fourth, less often in the third, year of life, and males - in the fifth. Pike spawning occurs at a temperature of 3-6 °C, immediately after the ice melts, near the shore at a depth of 0.5-1 meter. During spawning, fish come out into shallow water and splash noisily. Usually the smallest individuals spawn first, and the largest ones last. At this time, pikes stay in groups: 2-4 males per female; near large females - up to 8 males. Pike spawns in early spring near the very shores, when the reservoirs are not yet completely free of ice. After the end of spawning and a short rest, she begins to feed heavily. At this time, pike are good at taking live bait, various spinners, artificial mice and often earthworms.

Depending on the time of year, weather conditions and age, the pike takes up places in such a way that it can hide behind camouflage objects in the water and so that food is closer. Small to medium-sized pike stay closer to the shores, at the edge of reeds and algae, where it is better for them to camouflage themselves with surrounding objects and it is easier for them to find prey among the many small fish that live in the coastal strip. Large pike prefer deep places, but also located near flooded bushes, snags and algae.

On bright sunny days, small pike and larger pike come up to the very banks to “warm up” and, almost resting their tails on the shore, stand motionless for a long time. Large, multi-kilogram pikes do not prop up the shores with their tails, but also love to soak up the dense thickets of grass, exposing their wide backs to the hot rays of the sun. Disturbed, they go into the depths with a loud splash, but do not swim far from their resting place. Once in a clearing where there is less grass, pike are much easier to catch with sport fishing gear, and therefore you should strive to drive it out of the thick grass and into cleaner clearings.

Pike fishing

Pike is a desirable prey for amateur fishermen, and catching it is an exciting activity. Pike is caught with a spinning rod, on a line, in circles, on girders, with bets, and, less often, with an ordinary fishing rod and with a donk. The best time for this is spring, when pike bite almost all day long. True, for the first 10-12 days after spawning it stays in deep places, is lethargic and practically does not go for spinning. But then the 2-3-week spring rush begins, when pike are caught with any tackle. In rivers it is best caught with roach, dace, gudgeon, chub, in lakes - with roach and perch, often giving preference to the latter; in ponds - for crucian carp, roach, rudd. It should be noted that even in reservoirs of the same type, pike treat the same live bait differently.

For pike fishing, it is better to use oscillating, medium-sized spoons made of copper, brass and cupronickel. This metal does not need to be polished with sandpaper and polished with cloth to a mirror shine, as many fishermen do, but should be left as it is. The spinners made according to N. Skvirsky’s method performed exceptionally well. Such spoons are unsuitable for catching pike and perch due to their large size and weight. But their very shape, the ease and convenience of casting when used on any body of water and the ability to mislead any fish with their “game” in the water suggested to me the opportunity to use such a universal bait for catching pike and perch.

Pike of any age loves places with aquatic vegetation. It comes to the clean bottom only for fattening and when moving from one place to another. At the beginning of the fishing season, the grass where the pike hides is still small and does not interfere with the deployment of any spoon; by summer it grows so much that its tops are barely hidden under a thin layer of water, and for the most part emerge on its surface in separate islands or entire thickets. It is almost impossible to fish in such conditions using a spoon with a sinker or a heavy oscillating one. This is where a small spinner, made in the shape of Skvirsky’s spinner, comes in handy, as well as a modernized factory spinner, which, if properly processed, is also very good.

When fishing with a spinning rod, small spinners do not fly long distances and are of little use for fishing from the shore, where long casts are required. Having a small inflatable boat, you can fish a large area, moving on it from place to place. On a light rubber boat or on a boat of the “Dream” type, you can fish areas and “windows” between grass, water lilies and reeds without long casts.

The pike living in the grass does not miss the opportunity to grab the bait, prowling like a fish overhead. The pike makes very sharp bites when placing the spinner in this way because it usually rushes after the bait from a short distance and grabs the spinner when it has already passed it.

Once hooked, the pike behaves very violently. Having convinced herself that simple frantic jerks and tricks do not help, she can assume a vertical position and, resting her tail on the water, shakes her head with her mouth open to knock the hook out of her lip. If this technique does not help, she, on the contrary, stands head down and tries to bury herself in the thickest and strongest grass, from which it is not always possible to pull her out. Using this maneuver, the fish often breaks away and leaves.