Since childhood, we have all heard of such predatory fish as common pike. She is even a character in fairy tales. But here is what it represents, where it lives … It is unlikely that anyone would think about these issues. Meanwhile, it is one of the largest freshwater fish.
Biology of pike
The common pike (order of pike-like, family Pike, genus Pike) is a predator. The origin of the name of the fish itself is reliably unknown. According to experts, the name of the predator came simply from the word "feeble." 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 common Slavic skeu, which in translation means "kill, stab, cut."
The biology of the common pike is such that it can grow up to one and a half meters in length and weigh up to 35 kilograms. But, as a rule, the fish has a more modest size: length up to a meter and weight up to eight kilograms. Her body is somewhat reminiscent of a torpedo, her head is very large, and her mouth is wide enough. An interesting fact is that females are larger than males. The body of the 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 significantly forward. This is due to the fact that the common pike is a predator, and therefore has an unusual structure of the oral cavity, which is why it was called the “river shark”.
Predator coloring
At first glance, it may seem that the fish has a standard color. But this is not entirely true. The color of the predator is very variable and depends on its habitat. An ordinary pike (the description is given in the article) changes the color scheme depending on the degree of development and nature of the vegetation that surrounds it. Fish can be gray-green, gray-brown, gray-yellow. In this case, the back may 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 stripes.
Unpaired fins are usually yellow-gray or brown in color with dark spots, and paired - orange. Some lakes even have silver pike. It should be noted that the overall color of the fish depends on many factors and may be subject to constant changes. Here, the age of the individual, the season, plays a role. The dark color has an ordinary pike in a pond with muddy water and a silty bottom.
Pike Habitats
Common pike live in fresh waters of North America and Eurasia. As a rule, fish lives in the coastal region, in thickets, in low-flow or slow-flowing waters. In ponds, rivers, lakes, pike leads a settled life. But fish may well be found in partially desalinated areas of the seas, for example, in the Riga, Finnish and Curonian bays of the Baltic Sea, as well as the Taganrog Bay of Azov.
The common pike has a very wide habitat. Therefore, it is found 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 coast, preferring shallow water littered with garbage and overgrown algae. But in the rivers pike can be found both in depth and off the coast. In large numbers, predators live in estuaries that flow into large reservoirs. In such places, as a rule, there are wide spills and abundant aquatic flora. However, fish prefer only those water bodies that have a sufficient oxygen content.
Even a winter drop in oxygen in the water can lead to the death of predators. What conditions does the pike prefer? Where dwells, we reviewed earlier. Fish calmly transfers acidified water, and therefore it is found even in swamps. But pike avoids fast and stony rivers. The main condition for the stay of fish is the presence of abundant vegetation. But in the northern regions, a predator, as a rule, hides under bushes, snags hanging over the water, or behind stones where the fish lies in wait for its prey.
Lifestyle
What way of life does an ordinary pike lead? The description of the fish would be incomplete if we did not mention the nutrition of the famous predator. Usually the fish is motionless in its ambush, and then immediately throws itself at its prey. Very rarely, a creature manages to avoid the teeth of a pike if it chases after potential prey. The peculiarity of the predator is that it does not only chase the prey in the water, but also makes amazing air jumps. She swallows the victim only from the head. Even if the pike grabbed the fish across the body, it certainly quickly turns it over and sends its head into the mouth.
What does pike eat?
Fish begins to predate very early. Having reached a length of 12-15 millimeters, fry can already eat smaller larvae of carps. However, during this period of development, small pike prefer to eat invertebrates: mayflies, chironomid larvae, water donkeys. Having reached five centimeters, pikes completely switch to feeding on young fish of other fish. They cannot eat only invertebrates. This is due to the fact that energy is spent on food production, which should be replenished with nutrients (invertebrates do not make up for the energy spent). Therefore, young pike die in aquariums if they are fed exclusively with small crustaceans.
Sometimes in floodplain water bodies that have lost contact with the river after lowering the flood level, the young growth is isolated, but still the transition to predatory nutrition is required. 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, such a phenomenon is observed among individuals of larger sizes (ten centimeters or more). However, very small fish (3.1-4 cm) sometimes become cannibals. In some fish ponds, only pike are found. This surprising phenomenon occurs due to a whole successive chain of cannibalism. Ultimately, the only inhabitant of the reservoir remains the common pike. The systematics of the process is as follows: small pikes eat invertebrates, and larger relatives feed on them, which, in turn, are eaten by even larger individuals and so on. The objective existence of such a chain is associated with high fecundity of pike, which makes it possible to obtain a significant amount of offspring for feeding relatives, including also relatives.
When does common pike eat? The fish’s lifestyle is such that they eat in the evening or in the morning, but at night and in the afternoon they 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 common pike lives. Habitat determines the range of food available to fish. As a rule, they eat the most numerous individuals of the reservoir. And in spring, for example, pikes can readily enjoy frogs. There are even such cases when a predator dragged a mouse, a rat, a sandpiper or a squirrel swimming across a river under water.
Large pikes can afford to attack waterfowl, and this does not have to be a duckling, maybe it is an adult duck. For such tricks, the predator is sometimes called the coop. The literature even describes a case where a pike grabbed a goose by the foot and did not release it until he pulled the fish ashore.
However, it cannot be said that pike is very harmful to fisheries. In natural reservoirs, it regulates the community, eating small things, weak and sick fish, while it allows larger and healthier individuals to grow faster and give good offspring. Pike digests food extremely slowly. And therefore, it eats periodically. And in the winter, they don’t eat fish at all.
Predatory spawning
How does common pike breed? The characterization of fish would be incomplete if not to mention breeding. As we already said, pike are incredibly prolific fish. They reach puberty in 3-5 years, while their length is 35-40 centimeters. Females start throwing eggs right after ice melts at a temperature of 3-6 degrees. For this, fish are suitable in shallow water, near the coast. As a rule, smaller individuals go to spawn, then medium ones, and only then the largest ones. Each female is guarded by 2-4 males; up to eight potential applicants can be near a large one. The female swims in front, and males follow her on the sides or hold on to her back. Pikes rub against bushes, stumps, knots, cattail stems and other objects. In one place they do not linger and move all the time along the spawning ground. It is during this period that caviar is swept out. At the end of the spawning process, all fish rush in different directions and splash strongly, and males sometimes jump to the surface of the water.
It is difficult to imagine, but depending on the size of the female, she is capable of sweeping from 17.5 to 215 thousand eggs. Large caviar, the diameter of which is up to 3 millimeters, is scattered by the female, and then glued to the plants. After a few days, the stickiness is lost, the eggs crumble and then continue their development at the bottom of the reservoir. In those places where there is no vegetation, they immediately appear at the bottom. After 8-14 days, larvae begin to hatch, which at first feed on small crustaceans (cyclops and daphnia).
How long do pikes live?
An ordinary pike (photos 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 the literature you can find an incredible number of legends regarding the amazing survivability of pikes. Particularly incredible is the story of the Heilbronn pike, which was caught by King Frederick II and marked with a gold ring in 1230 in a lake near Beckingen. Legend says that the same fish was re-caught after 267 years. At that time, she already weighed 140 kilograms and grew to 5.7 meters in length. The ridge of this strange creature was exhibited in the cathedral of the city of Mannheim. However, it later became clear that this story is just a fishing tale. It turned out that the spine of the exhibit was nothing more than a hoax, as it was composed of the ridges of several fish. And there are a lot of such amazing stories.
How to catch predatory fish?
Common pike is a commercial fish. Its meat is very lean and not very tasty, but it is considered a fairly important dietary product. In the old days, Cossacks on the Don did not recognize such 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 fillet is very popular among French women, and therefore in France, not only catch pike, but also bred in artificial ponds.
In our country, its fishing is also very popular among fishermen. Most often they use spinning for this, this is the most difficult type of fishing, but also the most interesting. With knowledge of the exact technique and the right choice of bait, fishermen can get an excellent trophy.
The fishing season begins in 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 rivers. The period after spawning is especially good for fishing, because seven to twelve days after it, spring zhor begins in the pike. This period can be very short, and can last up to twenty days. A starving fish pecks on any bait. But it’s better to catch it closer to the spawning places. As soon as it ends, other fish rush here, attracted by pike caviar. And the predator does not lose time and eats new prey.
A sharp and strong wind makes the pike go to the depths. During fishing, it is worth considering the specifics of the reservoir. For example, in small rivulets, fishing should be carried out near whirlpools and pits.
Fish nibble improves significantly by the end of summer, when the heat subsides. And in September it becomes very intense and remains so in the daytime, almost until the moment when the ice becomes. Feeling the approach of cold weather, the fish tries to accumulate fat, and therefore it eats intensely and quickly comes to the bait. A particularly large catch can be obtained during quiet autumn evenings with fogs. Autumn fishing attracts many anglers, leaving their bottom and float fishing rods, they pick up spinning rods in order to catch a predator.
Interesting facts about fish
Periodically, predators have a change of teeth. Some fishermen believe that predators do not eat during such periods. But this is completely wrong. The process is gradual, the teeth change one at a time, but painfully. Nevertheless, even in such periods, the fish hunt.
The teeth on the lower jaw of the fish perform the function of capturing food. They have the shape of fangs and at the same time different sizes. But on the upper jaw, the teeth are smaller, their tips are directed inside 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 tricky fish. And catching her is sometimes difficult. If the fish once fell off the hook, it remembers the bait, because of which it was hurt. Therefore, the next time she will never bite on the same lure. In such cases, fishermen should change either the fishing location or the bait.
Fishing planet
Fishing is so popular that it is reflected in the computer game Fishing Planet. A unique common pike is one of the possible trophies of virtual fishing. Fishing Planet is a very realistic fishing simulator (online). It was created by true lovers of this lesson for the same avid fishermen. In this game you can choose fish, gear, strive to improve your skills. Moreover, you can connect friends to the process. Of course, the simulator will not replace real fishing, but there are many of its fans, since the creators of the game tried to make it very realistic and interesting.
