In order to find out what pike eats in various habitats, it is worth remembering immediately that it is a predatory fish. Regardless of whether she lives in a river or is bred in a pond, this species does not feed on vegetable protein. In most cases, the prey of a voracious predator becomes a smaller fish that lives in a pond. This "robber" can also profit from amphibians and reptiles, grabs a small waterfowl and rodents, does not disdain carrion and garbage.
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For the winter, the pike does not hibernate; it feeds year-round, although in the cold season the intensity of nutrition is much lower. Individuals who have reached puberty (in three to five years) do not form large flocks. They live either singly or in small homogeneous groups. In females, caviar matures from autumn all winter. They rush her in early spring. After that, intense zhor begins.
What does pike eat during this period? Everything that catches your eye: fish, large insects and their larvae, frogs, lizards, rodents that fell into the water. In addition to good vision, this predator has a developed sense of smell, so sometimes not only a moving object, but also rotting carrion can grab it.
With a length of 70 cm, the weight of an ordinary pike is about two (up to three) kilograms. Record specimens reach a size of one and a half meters and can weigh up to 35 kg if they survive to 30 years. By the structure of the body, individuals living in the river have a long and narrow body, in the pond they are thicker and shorter.
Although pike are considered voracious predators, their digestion is poorly developed. A well-fed “rogue” can digest swallowed food for several days or even weeks. At this moment, she is indifferent to any prey at her mouth. The stomach of this predator is very elastic, can double in size, while its walls are thinned to such an extent that they become translucent.
Young food
After spawning, caviar pike, covered with a glue-like mass, is fixed on snags, vegetation and stones. After a few days, this substance dissolves, and individual eggs settle to the bottom, where their development continues from one to two weeks. As a result, larvae are born. In the early days, they are sticky with sticky threads to the bottom vegetation and feed on the contents of their yolk sacs. Their length is about 7 mm.
What does pike eat in this and subsequent periods of growth? When the nutrients run out, they begin to feed on small zooplankton: cyclops and daphnia. The size of larvae in this period is about 1 cm. Having increased in size to 1.5 cm, pike fry can already prey on young cyprinids. Although this is rare. Mostly larvae of chironomids, water donkeys, and mayflies become their prey. Having reached a size of 5 cm, juvenile pike goes to fish. This process is logical and obligatory, since a growing organism requires energy, and insect larvae and crustaceans can no longer make up for them.
What does pike eat in nature?
The diet of a predator directly depends on the habitat and the fish species prevailing in the reservoir. In reservoirs and lakes, it usually consists of roach, scavenger, silver bream, perch, and ruff. In the river, her prey, in addition, can be minnows, minnow, char, bull-calves. In the pond, she, apart from crucians, enjoys treating with tadpoles and adult frogs with pleasure, but she will throw away the toad she has got.
What does pike eat during spring and autumn zhora? With a lack of fish, it can grab a waterfowl, even when physically unable to swallow it. There are times when a pike dies by swallowing an oversized duck or goose, suffocating from feathers and fluff.
Mice, rats, moles and other rodents that got into the water, as well as lizards, if there is a hungry “robber” nearby, risk paying their lives by becoming its prey. Smaller individuals can grab worms and leeches. A pike will take rotting carrion and “asleep” fish only when it is especially hungry and cannot find a more worthy prey.
Does pike eat algae?
This fish leads an extremely predatory lifestyle, therefore, simply can not eat plant foods. Even when there is absolutely no fish in the pond and there is no way to get other animals, it will not feed on algae. It is noted that up to 20% of the diet of this predator can be a smaller pike. Cannibalism is a common occurrence for this species. Therefore, the question of what pike eats in the pond, when there is absolutely no fish there, will be the answer - their brothers.
This feature is most pronounced in the floodplains of the rivers when the water after the spill falls and the reservoir becomes cut off from the main channel. Other species of fish in them quickly end, and juvenile pike begin to eat each other. In such places, the development of the species is uneven. Large individuals more than double the size of young animals, as it is their food. Pike keeps in such places in very uniform groups to reduce the desire and ability to eat each other.
