Amur pike in winter

What types of pike exist

There are several species of pike in nature, most of them have a sufficient population, but there are varieties that are protected by the legislation of the countries in which they live. The most common and well-known is the common predator, the rest are less common, and therefore not everyone knows about them.

All pikes are united by certain external characteristics, among which are:

• elongated snout;
• torpedo-shaped or cone-shaped body;
• spotting over the entire surface, the only exception being an albino;
• the location of the fins will also make it possible to recognize the caught fish as a pike;
• cannibalism, that is, eating one’s own relatives, is also characteristic of all species of this predator;
• a row of sharp teeth turned inward is found only in pike.

Competitions are often held to catch pike, but not all species are caught. Some do not grow very large, so they are of no interest in this case. In North America, there is a species of pike whose caviar is toxic, and the meat is not very tasty and has practically no value, which is why the population is very large.

Next, we will dwell in more detail on the main characteristics of all known species of pike.

An excerpt characterizing the Amur pike

“Don’t laugh, young lady,” Dunyasha said. With the help of Sonya and the maid, Natasha found the position of the mirror; her face took on a serious expression and she fell silent. She sat for a long time, looking at the row of receding candles in the mirrors, assuming (based on the stories she had heard) that she would see the coffin, that she would see him, Prince Andrei, in this last, merging, vague square. But no matter how ready she was to mistake the slightest spot for the image of a person or a coffin, she saw nothing. She began to blink frequently and moved away from the mirror. - Why do others see, but I don’t see anything? - she said. - Well, sit down, Sonya; “Nowadays you definitely need it,” she said. – Only for me... I’m so scared today! Sonya sat down at the mirror, adjusted her position, and began to look. “They’ll definitely see Sofya Alexandrovna,” Dunyasha said in a whisper; - and you keep laughing. Sonya heard these words, and heard Natasha say in a whisper: “And I know what she will see; she saw last year too. For about three minutes everyone was silent. “Certainly!” Natasha whispered and didn’t finish... Suddenly Sonya moved away the mirror she was holding and covered her eyes with her hand. - Oh, Natasha! - she said. – Did you see it? Did you see it? What did you see? – Natasha screamed, holding up the mirror. Sonya didn’t see anything, she just wanted to blink her eyes and get up when she heard Natasha’s voice saying “definitely”... She didn’t want to deceive either Dunyasha or Natasha, and it was hard to sit. She herself did not know how or why a cry escaped her when she covered her eyes with her hand. – Did you see him? – Natasha asked, grabbing her hand. - Yes. Wait... I... saw him,” Sonya said involuntarily, not yet knowing who Natasha meant by the word “him”: him - Nikolai or him - Andrey. “But why shouldn’t I say what I saw? After all, others see! And who can convict me of what I saw or did not see? flashed through Sonya's head. “Yes, I saw him,” she said. - How? How? Is it standing or lying down? - No, I saw... Then there was nothing, suddenly I see that he is lying. – Andrey is lying down? He is sick? – Natasha asked, looking at her friend with fearful, stopped eyes. - No, on the contrary, - on the contrary, a cheerful face, and he turned to me - and at that moment as she spoke, it seemed to her that she saw what she was saying. - Well, then, Sonya?... - I didn’t notice something blue and red... - Sonya! when will he return? When I see him! My God, how I’m afraid for him and for myself, and for everything I’m afraid...” Natasha spoke, and without answering a word to Sonya’s consolations, she went to bed and long after the candle had been put out, with her eyes open, she lay motionless on the bed and looked at the frosty moonlight through the frozen windows. Soon after Christmas, Nikolai announced to his mother his love for Sonya and his firm decision to marry her. The Countess, who had long noticed what was happening between Sonya and Nikolai and was expecting this explanation, silently listened to his words and told her son that he could marry whomever he wanted; but that neither she nor his father would give him his blessing for such a marriage. For the first time, Nikolai felt that his mother was unhappy with him, that despite all her love for him, she would not give in to him. She, coldly and without looking at her son, sent for her husband; and when he arrived, the countess wanted to briefly and coldly tell him what was the matter in the presence of Nicholas, but she could not resist: she cried tears of frustration and left the room. The old count began to hesitantly admonish Nicholas and ask him to abandon his intention. Nikolai replied that he could not change his word, and the father, sighing and obviously embarrassed, very soon interrupted his speech and went to the countess. In all his clashes with his son, the count was never left with the consciousness of his guilt towards him for the breakdown of affairs, and therefore he could not be angry with his son for refusing to marry a rich bride and for choosing the dowryless Sonya - only in this case did he more vividly remember what, if things weren’t upset, it would be impossible to wish for a better wife for Nikolai than Sonya; and that only he and his Mitenka and his irresistible habits are to blame for the disorder of affairs.

Ordinary

The most common type of toothy predator is the common pike. It is found in almost all freshwater bodies of Europe, North America, in the Aral Sea basin and in Siberian rivers and lakes. An adult can reach one and a half meters in length, and its weight sometimes exceeds 10 kg, but on average it weighs no more than 8 kg.

There are two subspecies of the predator: grass and deep. The body color can be different, it depends on the habitat of the fish. This species may have the following colors:

• greenish-gray;
• brown;
• grey-yellow.

In this case, the tummy will always remain light.

It is not picky when it comes to nutrition and does not disdain anything in its territory. It can even defeat smaller tribesmen without a twinge of conscience.

The fry stay in flocks for some time; adults prefer a solitary lifestyle. They prefer to stand in thickets and snags and look out for potential victims from there.

Black pike

This species is also called striped pike and lives in water bodies of eastern North America. Characteristic features of the species are:

• relatively small in size, the length reaches only 60 cm maximum, but the weight can be 4 kg;
• differs from the common pike by dark stripes above the eyes;
• the snout of black pike is shorter than that of other members of the family;
• It also has a mosaic pattern on the sides; it resembles stripes or links.

The diet will also differ; the predator prefers to feed on invertebrates and small crustaceans. For habitat it chooses dams with a lot of vegetation.

Sexual maturity of black pike is reached at different times, usually 1-4 years. For spawning, each female needs a pair of males. She lays from 6 to 8 thousand eggs at a time.

Amur pike

The name speaks for itself, the habitat gave its name to the species. Amur is found in the Amur basin, as well as in some reservoirs of Sakhalin.

Features of the Amur pike are:

• silvery or golden color of the scales;
• dark spots on the upper body;
• adult size up to 115 cm;
• maximum registered weight 20 kg.

Inexperienced fishermen often confuse Amur pike with taimen; their body shape and color are very similar.

The whole palette and Amur pike

Through polarized glasses we could constantly admire large taimen, as well as whitefish, Amur asp, lenka and magnificent silver-white pike with black specks. And all these fish caught our hook almost every day. We were lucky enough to catch several Amur lenok. All specimens from 3 to 4 kg are magnificent, considering that these fish are almost never larger. The largest Amur pike, unfortunately, left us. Following the bait, the fish reached almost to my flippers. It was a gigantic pike, nearly 120cm long, well-fed, definitely weighing at least 14kg, with flawless scales and luscious black speckles on a silvery background. It was noticeably larger than other, almost meter-long, specimens that we saw and caught. For several long seconds she stood in front of me in the clear water, I saw her shimmering fins, she studied me, and I studied her. Then she gradually, very smoothly and in no way scared, turned around and stood under a powerful tree on the edge of the pool. The guide was rafting about 50 m upstream from me. Still completely crazy from the performance, I quickly convinced him of the need to place the bait fish near the tree, which he did. The pike carefully crept up to the bait, took it and swam in the direction of the tree. We sailed our boats as close as possible to the opposite shore. The guide took the famous “cigarette” pause before hooking.

American pike

The species differs from its relatives by its shortened snout and the relatively small size of adult individuals. Life expectancy is only 10 years, average length is 35-45 cm with a weight of about 1-1.5 kg.

The species is also called redfin pike; it has two subspecies:

• northern redfin;
• southern herbal.

It lives in the eastern part of North America; it feels most comfortable in ponds with a high level of algae, and chooses reservoirs with standing water.

Alligator pike: description

Alligator pike is considered a real monster inhabiting the waters of Central and North America, as it can grow to enormous sizes.

Appearance

In appearance, the alligator pike is not much different from the toothy predator that is found in the reservoirs of the central zone. At the same time, it can be quite large in size.

Everyone knows that the Mississippi shellfish is on the list of the largest freshwater fish. This pike can grow up to 3 meters in length and weigh 130 kilograms. Such a huge body is practically encased in “armor” consisting of large scales. In addition, this fish should be noted for the presence of huge jaws, shaped like the jaws of an alligator, as evidenced by the name of this fish. In this huge mouth you can find a whole row of teeth, sharp as needles.

In other words, the Mississippi shellfish is something between a predatory fish and a crocodile. In this regard, it is worth noting that being next to this predatory fish is not so pleasant, and not very comfortable.

Habitat

As mentioned above, this fish prefers the waters of Central and North America and, in particular, the lower reaches of the Mississippi River. In addition, alligator pike are found in the northern states of America, such as Texas, South Carolina, Alabama, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Louisiana, Georgia, Missouri and Florida. Not so long ago, this river monster was also found in more northern states such as Kentucky and Kansas.

Basically, the Mississippi shellfish chooses bodies of water with stagnant water or with a slow flow, choosing quiet backwaters of rivers where the water is of low salinity. In Louisiana, this monster is found in salt marshes. The fish prefers to stay close to the surface of the water, where it warms up under the rays of the sun. In addition, pike breathes air on the surface of the water.

Behavior

The Mississippian shellfish has quite powerful jaws, with which it can bite even a young crocodile into two halves.

At the same time, it should be noted that this is a lazy and rather slow fish. Therefore, attacks by this fish on alligators, and especially on humans, have not been recorded. The diet of this predator consists of small fish and various crustaceans.

An interesting fact is that alligator pike can be kept in an aquarium. In this case, it is necessary to have a capacity of 1000 liters and no less. In addition, fish of the appropriate size can be placed here, otherwise this inhabitant will eat all the other inhabitants of the aquarium.

Shell pike and alligator gar. Fishing on the Mississippi

Muskinong

The toothy predator received this unusual name from the Indians; in their language this is exactly what “ugly pike” sounds like. Its habitats are quite limited; it can only be found in North America, and even then not often.

Unlike the American pike, the muskie lives about 30 years, and can grow to almost two meters. The maximum recorded weight of the fish was more than 40 kg, but it is allowed to take it when catching no more than 20 kg.

For the first ten years it actively feeds and grows in length, then this process stops. It shows predatory tendencies in its diet in the first year of life. Maskinong has three subspecies, their characteristics differ from each other.

muskie subspecies	color characteristics
striped or common	has dark stripes on the body
spotted	there are dark spots on the silvery scales
clean or bare	no stripes or spots on the body are visible

All subspecies will be united by the presence of seven sensory points on the lower jaw.

It is this species of pike from the North American continent that is considered a giant; individuals of muskie are considered the largest among pike representatives.

Southern pike

It's marble.
Unlike other pikes, it has two names: Esox cisalpinus and the synonymous Esox flaviae. We owe the appearance of the two names to two research groups that independently described the new species in 2011. One group (which is about cisalpinus) managed to publish the work earlier. And whoever stood up first gets the slippers. But the second group of researchers was not offended, and as a result we have two Latin names for one fish. It happens. It is distinguished by a relatively unique marble coloring with large spots. If you carefully look at the photos of the Italians, in many cases they show exactly southern pikes.

Where to fish?

First of all, Italy. Northern part and central, in the area of ​​Rome. This is the primary habitat and it is here that you can count not only on mass numbers, but also on a trophy. Since this pike was not born yesterday, but in its physical characteristics is not inferior to the northern pike, they are similar in growth. At least during a trip to the Garda reservoir you can easily catch a meter-long fish. Or more.

Worth reading: Pike. Size hierarchy, cannibalism, food theft and other pranks

In addition to Italy, southern pike have been spotted in southern Switzerland and southeastern France. Unexpectedly, it turned up in decent numbers in Sardinia. There are suspicions that she also lives in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula, but for now this is just a suspicion.

Aquitaine

The youngest representative of the pike, it was described as a separate species only in 2014. The peculiarity of this species is its very limited habitat; it can only be found in freshwater bodies of France.

At the moment, these are all officially registered species of toothed predator. Scientists are still arguing about another one; some believe that the hybrid of common pike and muskellunge should be isolated separately. Others emphasize that these individuals cannot reproduce on their own, therefore they cannot be made a separate species.

Identification problems

The simplest identification of species by appearance is still popular. If there are obvious differences between two animals, then they are defined as two different species. And this is generally normal, because appearance in many cases turns out to be a good distinguishing feature. For example, polar and brown bears.

However, in some cases, accurate identification is difficult because the external features of two different species may be very similar. As the most significant example, we can recall the Canadian and European beaver. They are so similar in appearance that even experts are often confused. And for a normal determination it is necessary to compare skulls and teeth. A beaver won't just give up its teeth, much less its skull.

If the organism has already adapted well to its niche, then the division into separate species will occur according to the correction of details that are not always reflected in appearance. And this is especially evident at the very beginning of speciation, when the descendant species visually differs from the parent species in almost nothing. And we designate those external differences that we can sometimes discern the tenth time as the result of individual variability.

For fish in general and pike in particular, the story is exactly the same. Formally, the pikes described above are pikes. If a person calls each of these fish a pike, he will be right. Moreover, the passport names of each of them begin with the word “pike” or esox.

Worth reading: A truly predatory carp

But if the old species, which dispersed from each other a long time ago, have quite obvious differences (Amur pike and northern pike), then the young ones turn out to be extremely similar. This was the case with southern and Aquitaine pike. For a very long time it was believed that these fish were just a local variant of northern pike. Not even a subspecies, but just a color modification.

Moreover, in Italian museums, southern pike have been on a par with northern pike since the 19th century and had a simple designation on the tag - Esox lucius. And then geneticists got into it and it turned out that a good half of the pikes in the collection were not lucius at all.

However, even at the early stages of speciation, some differences can be identified. For pikes, the head is indicative. Proportions of the skull, location of the eye, length and angle of inclination of the upper jaw, postorbital space and submandibular pores. This is the obvious. And the most meticulous citizens can count the number of scales in the lateral line.

Naturally, one could argue that northern pike also have short-nosed specimens. However, what is important here is the consistency and stability of the appearance of such fish. The truly shortnose northern pike is a non-standard pike, found alone in a huge number of common pikes. In addition, the original proportions of the northern pike are accepted as the standard, and the northern pike itself is called the reference (type) species. That is, the standard-typical proportions of the head of a northern pike are the stove from which you need to dance.

Northern pike has been called a reference species for a reason. If we take the data of geneticists and paleontologists, it turns out that the northern pike is the oldest pike of all living pikes. And not just the old one, but the most successful one. Although the northern pike appeared almost simultaneously with the muskie, it was able to spread wider (it circled the planet at least twice) and gave rise to other species: black pike and American pike. Now two more.

Accordingly, the proportions, number of scales in the lateral line and sometimes the number of rays in the operculum of northern pike are considered a reference point.

However, the most accessible and quite accurate identification method is to count the submandibular pores. These are noticeable pits on the lower jaw that are a continuation of the sensory system. As a result, you can create a table something like this

Northern pike (esox lucius)	usually 5, sometimes 4-6
Maskinong (esox masquinongy)	6-10
Southern pike (esox cisalpinus)	TBC
Aquitaine pike (esox aquitanicus)	—
Black [chain] pike (esox niger)	3-5
American pike (ea-americanus, ea-vermiculatus)	usually 4, sometimes 3-5
Amur pike (esox reichertii)	—

It is easier to distinguish southern pike from northern pike by coloring. It’s not for nothing that southern pike is called marbled pike. Its colors are very large and, in a sense, intricate spots and horizontal stripes.

The Aquitanian pike is not much different in color from the northern one. And here it is easiest to determine the species by the head: the Aquitaine pike has a noticeably shorter head. However, this only difference is so insignificant that the risk of making a mistake is very high. But despite this, comparing goals should not be neglected

Differences between pike and other fish

The classification of pikes told us about the differences between predators. And there is also a difference with other inhabitants of the reservoir. Pike is distinguished from other fish by:

• sharp teeth wrapped inside, which leaves the prey no chance of escape;
• the location of the dorsal fin, it is located closer to the tail, and right below it it is easy to find the anal fin;
• pectoral fins are located in close proximity to the head, pelvic fins in the middle of the body;
• You can also recognize a pike by its small scales.

It is these characteristics that distinguish the toothy resident of the reservoir from its other inhabitants.

We managed to find out all the types of pike that exist on our planet and are known to mankind. It is worth noting that this is the predator that fishermen most often want to see as a trophy. We hope that the information received will help identify the caught trophy.