Has anyone heard of Northern Pike, Esox lucius, Pike, Jackfish, or Pickerel? This predatory fish is very exotic and looks fierce. Although not not very popular in the community, this fish is loved by various enthusiasts, including collectors and hobbyists.
- Scientific Classification
- Kingdom : Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class : Actinopterygii
- Order: Esociformes
- Family: Esocidae
- Genus: Esox
- Species: E. lucius
- Latin/Scientific Name : Esox lucius
Physical form
Northern Pike has a fairly fierce and unique physique. This predatory fish has a body that resembles a Salmon fish, but the strange thing is that the head of this fish is similar to the Arapaima fish. This fish, which has the Latin name Esox lucius, has a greenish color with yellow to white shadows on its belly. Then all over his body there are bright spots that make the appearance of this fish even more attractive.
What is interesting is that the lower half of the Northern Pike's gills are not covered with scales. And did you know? The Northern Pike has large sensory pores on its head as well as on the underside of its lower jaw.
In its natural habitat, the Northern Pike can grow to a length of 55 cm and a weight of 28.4 kg. And in its natural habitat, namely the northern hemisphere, Northern Pike has been found to be the largest with a length of up to 150 cm.
Area spread
This fish, which is famous for its Latin name, Esox lucius, has a regional distribution in the waters of the Northern Hemisphere. The area in question includes America, Europe, and Russia. If you pay attention, the distribution area of the Northern Pike is very wide for a predatory fish.
Food Type
When Northern Pikes are young, they will eat small invertebrates such as daphnia. Then the bigger the Northern Pike will eat the smaller fish. When they are big and mature, the Northern Pike's food menu is varied, such as frogs, insects, leeches, birds, other Northern Pikes (smaller in size), even small mammals. Northern Pike is a solitary hunter (ie likes to be alone or what we call a single fighter).
How to hunt the Northern Pike is very unique, based on what was quoted from Wikipedia, this fish has a unique hunting behavior as well. This fish will stay in the water by moving its dorsal and pectoral fins. When grabbing prey, the Northern Pike bends and crashes into the prey by relying on the tail fin, dorsal fin, anal fin, and body that resembles a large rocket. Only then did the Northern Pike enjoy its prey.
But if the prey is a bird or a small mammal, the Northern Pike needs to submerge its prey first to weaken its breath. After the prey in the form of birds and small mammals is not moved, then the Northern Pike can eat its prey.
Habitat & Characteristics
The habitat of the Northern Pike is river-like waters with low salinity, subtropical cyclic (automatically very cold), moist and shallow. The ideal temperature if you want to keep the Northern Pike is water with a temperature of 10-28 degrees Celsius.
When you keep the Northern Pike try to keep the water you use for this fish is cool. The safest benchmark is water in cities like Malang and Bandung. If you have more budget, you can buy a Chiller (it's quite a bit of money) or you can just use a Fan Cooler. Don't give ice cubes to the Northern Pike tank too often, give it when the weather is hot and the water temperature is more than 30 degrees Celsius.
Temperament
Northern Pike temperament is relatively aggressive when compared to predatory fish in general. Especially if you rarely, forget, or late to feed. Then get ready tankmate fish from Northern Pike will become victims.
And what you need to pay attention to from the tank is that you try not to be too small, let alone fit in the Norther Pike's mouth. It's sure to be a meal in just 5 minutes. So expect that the body
The Northern Pike is labeled “Least Concern” by the IUCN for its population in the wild. This fish is indeed a favorite and popular when it comes to fishing, but in order to maintain the Northern Pike population in the wild, let's apply the Catch and Release method. Fish it, get it, then release it again. So don't take it home, let alone hunt it down blindly.