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March 2011- Pike
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Article Content
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| Invasive Species of the Month |
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Invasive Species of the month- Pike (Esox species)
(Muskellunge, Tiger Muskie, and Northern Pike)
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| What? |
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The pike species include the grass pickerel, northern pike, muskellunge, chain pickerel, and Amur pike freshwater fish species. The northern pike gets its name from its resemblance to the pole- weapon known as the pike. Muskellunge are the largest member of the pike family and a tiger muskie is a hybrid of a muskellunge and a northern pike (males are sterile and females are fertile). Pike can grow to a maximum recorded length of six feet, a maximum recorded weight of 77 pounds, and individual fish have been recorded to live 30 years. They are elongated and torpedo- shaped and have sharply pointed heads and sharp teeth. Coloration is typically grey-green with a mottled or spotted appearance with stripes along the back, making it exceptionally camouflaged in weeds. The pike feeds on a wide range of food sources, but their primary prey is fish, including members of their own species. They also eat insects and amphibians, water- borne small mammals, small birds and swimming snakes.
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| March calendar events |
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| Where? |
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They are native across northern America and from western Europe to Siberia in Eurasia. Within North America, there are northern pike populations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Montana, Maryland, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Indiana, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Iowa, Northern New Mexico, Arizona, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Idaho, northern New England, and most of Canada.
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| Lookalike? |
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Pike are totally unmistakeable in appearance to any other freshwater fish because of the long streamlined body with camouflaged sides and needlelike sharp teeth.
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| What can you go? |
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Be on the lookout for this moth, and please report suspected invaders online at http://oregoninvasiveshotline.org/ or call the Invasive Species Hotline at 1-866-INVADER (1-866-468-2337), this number is toll free.
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