Pike: description and photo

All of us from childhood have heard of such predatory fish as pike. She is even a character in fairy tales. But that's what she is, where she lives ... Nobody thought about these questions. And yet it is one of the largest freshwater fish.

Biology of pike common

Common pike (squad of pike-shaped, family of Pike, genus Pike) is a predator. The origin of the name of the fish is not known. According to experts, the name of the predator was simply from the word "puny". Thus they began to call fish with a fairly elongated body and at the same time deceptively thin. But there is another version, according to which, the word is derived from the all-Slavic skeu , which in translation means "to kill, to prick, to cut".

The biology of the pike is such that it can grow to a length of 1.5 meters in length and weigh up to 35 kilograms. But, as a rule, fish has more modest sizes: length up to a meter and weight up to eight kilograms. Her body is somewhat like a torpedo, the head is very large, and the mouth is wide enough. It is interesting that females are larger than males. The trunk of a fish has a characteristic elongation, it is difficult to confuse it with any other fish. But the head has some features, it is clearly visible that the lower jaw protrudes considerably forward. This is due to the fact that the common pike is a predator, and therefore has an unusual structure of the mouth cavity, because of what it was called a "river shark".

Coloring predator

At first glance it may seem that the fish has a standard color. But this is not entirely true. The coloring of the predator is highly variable and depends on its habitat. The ordinary pike (the description is given in the article) changes the color range depending on the degree of development and nature of the vegetation that surrounds it. The fish can be gray-green, gray-brown, gray-yellow. In this case, the back can be darker than the main background, and on the sides of the predator there are always large olive or brown spots that form a kind of strip.

Unpaired fins, usually yellow-gray or brown with dark spots, and paired - orange. In some lakes there are even silvery pikes. It should be noted that the general coloring of the fish depends on many factors and can be subject to constant changes. The age of the individual, the time of the year, plays here. Dark coloring has a pike ordinary in a pond with muddy water and a silted bottom.

Habitats of pike

The common pike lives in the fresh water bodies of North America and Eurasia. Typically, the fish lives in the coastal area, in thickets, in low-current or inefficient waters. In ponds, rivers, lakes, pike leads a settled life. But fish can also be found in partially freshened areas of the seas, for example in the Riga, Finland and Curonian Bays of the Baltic Sea, and also the Taganrog Gulf of Azov.

Pike an ordinary has a very wide range of habitats. That is why it occurs in the basins of the Aral and Caspian Seas, and in the north, the predator can be found from the Kola Peninsula to Anadyr, in the Amur River basin. In lakes and ponds, fish swim near the shore, preferring shallow water, clogged with debris, and thickets of algae. But in the rivers pike can be found both at depth and off the coast. In a large number of predators live in the mouths of rivers that flow into large reservoirs. In such places, as a rule, there are wide spills and abundant aquatic flora. However, fish prefer only those ponds that have a sufficient oxygen content.

Even a winter decrease in the level of oxygen in the water can lead to the death of predators. What conditions does the pike prefer? Where we live, we considered earlier. Fish calmly tolerates acidified water, and therefore occurs even in swamps. But the fast and stony rivers the pike avoids. The main condition for the presence of fish is the presence of abundant vegetation. But in the northern regions, the predator, as a rule, hides under bushes, driftwood, overhanging the water, or behind the stones, where the fish lies in wait for its prey.

Lifestyle

What kind of life does the pike lead? The description of the fish would be incomplete if you do not mention the nutrition of a known predator. Usually the fish is motionless in its ambush, and then rushes to its victim with lightning speed. It is very rare for any creature to escape the pike's teeth if it chases after potential prey. The peculiarity of the predator is that it only pursues the victim in the water, but also makes amazing air jumps. She swallows the victim only from the head. Even if the pike grasped the fish across the body, it invariably quickly turns it over and sends its head into the mouth.

What does the pike eat?

Predatory fish begins very early. Having reached a length of 12-15 millimeters, fry can already eat smaller carp larvae. However, in this period of development, small pikes prefer to feed on invertebrates: the subspecies, larvae of chironomids, water donkeys. Having reached five centimeters, the pike completely switches to feeding young growth of other fish. They can not eat only invertebrates. This is due to the fact that the extraction of food consumes energy, which must be replenished with nutrients (invertebrates do not make up for the energy spent). Therefore in aquariums young pike perishes, if they are fed exclusively by small crustaceans.

Sometimes in floodplain reservoirs that have lost contact with the river after lowering the flood, the young are isolated, but still the transition to predatory nutrition is mandatory. In such cases, the pike develops unevenly. Small individuals feed on invertebrates and grow very poorly. At the same time, larger pikes eat their smaller relatives, grow much faster and turn into real cannibals, consuming their own kind.

As a rule, this phenomenon is observed among individuals of larger sizes (ten centimeters or more). However, cannibals sometimes become very small fish (3.1-4 cm). In some reservoirs of fish, only pike are found. This surprising phenomenon occurs due to a whole successive chain of cannibalism. In the end, the only inhabitant of the reservoir is the pike. The systematics of the process is as follows: small pikes eat invertebrates, and they are fed by larger congeners, which in turn are eaten by even larger individuals and so on. The objective existence of such a chain is associated with the high fecundity of the pike, which makes it possible to obtain a significant number of offspring for the feeding of relatives, including also relatives.

When does the pike eat? The way of life of the fish is such that they eat in the evening or in the mornings, but at night and in the afternoon almost always rest, digesting food. The menu of predators depends on different circumstances, and therefore can be very different. Basically it depends on where the pike lives. The habitat determines the range of food available to the fish. As a rule, they eat the most numerous individuals of the reservoir. In the spring, for example, pikes can readily eat frogs. There are even known cases when a predator dragged a mouse, a rat, a sandpiper or a river crossing a squirrel under water.

Large pikes can afford to attack waterfowl, and it does not have to be a duckling, maybe an adult duck. For such tricks, the predator is sometimes called the udatnitsa. In literature, even described the case when the pike grabbed the goose by the foot and did not release it until he pulled the fish ashore.

However, it can not be said that the pike is doing a great harm to the fishery. In natural reservoirs, it regulates the community, eating small things, weak and sick fish, while it allows larger and healthy individuals to grow faster and give good offspring. The pike digests food extremely slowly. That's why he eats periodically. And in winter, fish do not eat at all.

Spawning of the predator

How does the pike grow? Characteristics of fish would be incomplete, if not to mention breeding. As we have already said, pikes are incredibly prolific fish. They reach sexual maturity in 3-5 years, while their length is 35-40 centimeters. Caviar to cast females begin immediately after the melting of ice at a temperature of 3-6 degrees. For this, the fish are suitable for shoaling, under the shore. As a rule, smaller individuals go to spawn, then - medium, and only then - the largest. Each female is guarded by 2-4 males, near the large one there can be up to eight potential applicants. The female swims ahead, and the male individuals follow her on either side or keep behind her. Pike rubs against bushes, stumps, swirls, stalks of cattails and other objects. In one place they do not stay and all the time they move along the spawning ground. It is during this period that caviar is swept out. At the end of the spawning process, all the fish rush in different directions and splash strongly, and males sometimes jump out onto the surface of the water.

It is difficult to imagine, but depending on the size of the female, it is able to sweep from 17.5 to 215 thousand eggs. Large caviar, whose diameter is up to 3 millimeters, is scattered by the female, and then it is glued to the plants. After a few days the stickiness is lost, the eggs crumble and continue to develop on the bottom of the reservoir. In those places where there is no vegetation, they immediately find themselves on the bottom. After 8-14 days, larvae begin to hatch, which first feed on small crustaceans (cyclops and daphnia).

How long does the pike live?

Pike an ordinary (photo are given in the article) can live up to twenty years. However, there is evidence that a thirty-three-year-old fish was once caught. In general, in literature, you can find an incredible number of legends about the stunning survivability of the pike. Especially incredible is the story of the Heilbronn pike, which was captured by King Frederick II and marked by a golden ringlet in 1230 in a lake near Beckingen. The legend says that the same fish was re-caught after 267 years. At that time it already weighed 140 kilograms and in length it grew to 5.7 meters. The ridge of this strange creature was exhibited in the cathedral city of Mannheim. However, later it turned out that this story is just a fishing bike. It turned out that the spine of the exhibit was nothing more than a hoax because it was made up of ridges of several fish. And there are a lot of such amazing stories.

How to catch a predatory fish?

The common pike is a commercial fish. Its meat is very low-fat and not very tasty, but it is considered to be quite an important dietary product. In the old days, the Cossacks on the Don did not recognize such a fish and threw it back into the river. But in the Middle Ages in England pike was considered a very tasty and expensive fish. Fish fillets are very popular among French women, and therefore in France pike is not only caught, but also bred in artificial ponds.

In our country, fishing is also very popular among fishermen. Most often for this spinning is used, this is the most complex kind of fishing, but also the most interesting. With knowledge of the exact technique and the correct choice of bait, fishermen can get an excellent trophy.

The fishing season begins in the early spring, with the arrival of the first warm days, but before the onset of floods. This period falls at the end of March and the beginning of April. For fishing it is better to choose small rivulets. Especially good for catching the period after spawning, because seven to twelve days after it, the spring pike begins at the pike. This period can be very short-lived, and can last up to twenty days. A hungry fish bites on any bait. But catching it is better close to the spawning grounds. As soon as it ends, other fish are attracted here, attracted by pike caviar. A predator does not waste time and eats new prey.

A sharp and strong wind causes the pike to retreat to the depths. During fishing it is necessary to take into account the specifics of the reservoir. For example, in small rivers, fishing should be done near pools and pits.

The fish's bark is greatly improved by the end of summer, when the heat decreases. And in September it becomes very intense and remains so in the daytime, almost until the moment when there will be ice. Sensing the approach of cold weather, the fish tries to accumulate fat, and therefore it feeds heavily and quickly falls on the bait. Especially the big catch can be received during quiet autumn evenings with fogs. Autumn fishing attracts many anglers, leaving their bottom and float fishing rods, they take the spinning gear in order to catch the predator.

Interesting facts about fish

Periodically, the predators are changing teeth. Some anglers consider that at such times predators do not feed. But this is completely wrong. The process is gradual, the teeth change one by one, but painfully. And yet, even in such periods, the fish hunt.

Teeth on the lower jaw of the fish perform the function of capturing food. They have the shape of canines and at the same time they are of different size. But on the upper jaw teeth are smaller, their points are directed inward to the mouth. When capturing a victim, she no longer has a chance to escape from the mouth of a predator.

According to experienced fishermen, pike is a very cunning fish. And sometimes it's not easy to catch it. If the fish once fell off the hook, it remembers the bait, because of which it hurt. Therefore, the next time she never bites on the same lure. Fishermen in such cases should change either the place of fishing or bait.

Fishing Planet

Fishing is so popular that it is reflected in the computer game Fishing Planet. A unique ordinary pike is one of the possible trophies of virtual fishing. Fishing Planet is a very realistic fishing simulator (online). It was created by real lovers of this lesson for the same avid fishermen. In this game you can choose fish, tackle, strive to improve your skills. And in the process you can connect and friends. Of course, a real fishing simulator will not replace, but there are many of his fans, as the creators of the game tried to make it very realistic and interesting.

Instead of an afterword

In this article, we tried to tell the most interesting facts about the famous predator, which is a thunderstorm of rivers and lakes. But at the same time the pike is valued for dietary meat and is a welcome trophy for every fisherman.