Alligator pike is a prehistoric monster and a unique trophy

Mississippian monster, alligator fish, prehistoric monster, as well as the same age as dinosaurs, exotic fishing trophy and aquarium fish - all these epithets belong to the creation with a lot of names, the most common of which is the "alligator pike". The photos of these monsters are impressive.

Lepistostedae

That's the name of the alligator pike in Latin. In scientific circles, the aquatic animal is known as the Mississippi panzirnik, or ganoid. And all because of bone scales in the form of rhombuses, not overlapping each other, but covering the whole body of fish like a shell. It is so durable that even a large spear or harpoon bounces off of it.

There is also one more name, which also implies the alligator pike, - sargan (due to external similarities with the pikes of the Sarganov family). But, in fact, to the pike, the Mississippian shellfish does not have any phylogenetic relationship. The ancestors of the armored representative of the aquatic fauna appeared on the planet about 200 million years ago, long before the appearance of Bone fishes. Since then, they have almost not changed and give us the opportunity to come into contact with peers of the dinosaur era.

Appearance and etiology

Externally, the fish really look like a pike from our rivers - the dorsal and anal fins are also shifted back and the fusiform shape of the body is similar. However, it is not for nothing that the pike is alligator: its head is equipped with powerful flat jaws with many fine needles, which makes it look like a crocodile's head.

The length of the jaws can be 30-40 centimeters. In the homeland of the fish, in the Mississippi River, it is often confused with alligators, seeing the outlines of the animal under water. But, despite this "design" and impressive size (the fish grows to 3 meters and weighs up to 150 kilograms), in the methods of hunting for prey it, like pike, makes swift and powerful ambushes. By the way, usually an alligator pike leads an inactive way of life, feeding on fish and crustaceans in the troubled waters of the Great River. Individuals larger can eat birds and small mammals.

Pisces are gluttonous and can eat constantly. Their stomach can stretch out and hold up to 20 kg of food.

Coloring fish - from spotted and silvery-green on the back to the dairy on the belly - serves as an excellent camouflage in muddy water and allows individuals to use another rather original way of extracting food. The pike rises along the river current, and then without movement it floats down. In this case, the fishes take it for a log, as a result of a powerful and short throw becoming a prey of a predator.

Features of biology

Similarity with the alligator adds to the fish and its behavior during the heat wave. Alligator pike rises to the surface and captures air with a distinctive sound. The peculiarity of the respiration of these fish is associated with the structure of the swim bladder, which is lined with blood vessels and has a connection with the esophagus. This additional way of enriching the blood with oxygen allowed these ancient monsters to survive in warm muddy water, where other fish die.

The armored pike surprised biologists with the structure of visual analyzers. Their eyes are big, and their eyesight is sharp. But it is interesting that two kinds of proteins are involved in providing the perception of light, one of them is found exclusively in fish, and the other only in mammals.

Alligator pike (or Mississippian shellfish) has brought a surprise to geneticists. After deciphering its genome, it turned out that the set of its genes is more diverse than that of evolutionarily young bony fishes and mammals. This gave a new impetus to the research of the evolutionary branches of the development of the animal world on the planet.

Habitat

The boundary of the pike pike extends from Quebec, the Great Lakes and Mississippi, to Costa Rica and Southwest Cuba. These are primordially freshwater fish, but they are able to endure and stay in seawater. But the alligator pike multiplies only in fresh water bodies.

Fishing

Alligator pike meat does not have nutritional value. When cooking, it becomes dry and very hard, while in meat there are many small bones. Very rarely it is used for food, except for the indigenous peoples of the Mississippi forests.

Inner, as well as caviar, are poisonous and even with inept cleaning can cause poisoning of the body. But scales of armored pike are used today for the manufacture of jewelry and souvenirs. And the exhibits, made by skillful taxidermists, serve to beautify the offices and houses of anglers.

Exotic Trophy

Currently, the capture of this giant is solely for the purpose of exotic fishing. This is a coveted trophy for desperate anglers, as it is not such a simple task to get a fish weighing more than 100 kg from the water to break through the shell and pull it out of the water.

Hunting for sargana is an activity for true extremals! Catch it on top with a little float release on live bait. You can hunt all the year round, but fishing without an experienced guide, most likely, will fail.

Opportunities of invasion

The problem of invasion of alien species in the primordial ecosystem of mankind has been facing for a long time. In the world, institutions are being established to study and prevent risk factors. Cases of detection of this species in water bodies far from its habitats have already been recorded. So, in the Berezina River, a pike-alligator was caught on the territory of Belarus. A similar case was recorded near the shores of Turkmenistan in the Caspian Sea.

The fact that in pet stores at times you can find those most armored pike, alarms the Russian ichthyologists. After all, in the lower reaches of the Volga and the Caspian lakes these fish can find conditions suitable for breeding (provided, of course, they can acclimatize in our region).

If you want to get unforgettable fishing experience - go for the Mississippi. And let the catch in the form of an alligator fish adorn the collection of achievements of an extreme fisherman!