208 FISHES OF ILLINOIS 



of the northeastern part of the state. It is also occasionally 

 caught in the clearer sloughs and lakes (usually fed by springs) 

 of the Illinois, Rock, and Green rivers. Several specimens of 

 good size have recently been taken by us from the lock pond 

 at Henry, on the Illinois. 



It is a cosmopolitan species of the northern hemisphere, 

 found in the fresh waters of northern Europe, Asia, and North 

 America, and ranging as far south in Europe as Italy and Greece. 

 In this country it is abundant in suitable situations from Alaska 

 southward through Canada, and through the upper Mississippi 

 Valley and the eastern United States to the Potomac on the 

 Atlantic slope and to the Missouri and its branches in Iowa 

 and Nebraska. 



The average weight of the pike taken from our region is not 

 over 5 lb, but a specimen weighing 26H> pounds is reported by 

 Dr. Jordan to have been caught in the Kankakee. The record 

 weight for Europe is 145 lb — that of a specimen taken at Bre- 

 genty in 1862. 



This fish is commonly called pickerel in Illinois, although its 

 more appropriate name of pike is also sometimes used. It pre- 

 fers clean, clear, cool water of a sluggish current, in which it 

 remains generally quiet by day. It is a strong and active 

 swimmer, extremely voracious, and with senses remarkably 

 r acute. It launches itself like an arrow upon its prey, seldom 

 missing its aim, and fighting courageously with others of its 

 kind. It is purely carnivorous, its food consisting of fishes 

 among which we have noticed sunfish and black bass, together 

 with frogs, crawfishes, and the larger insects. Mice, reptiles, 

 and young ducks have been reported -by various authors to 

 have been taken from the stomachs of pike. 



It spawns in March in our latitude, selecting shore water 

 about a foot and a half in depth. Professor Benecke of Konigs- 

 berg says of this species, as quoted by Goode, that "it lives a 

 hermit life, only consorting in pairs during the spawning season. 

 The pairs of fish then resort to shallow places upon meadows 

 and banks which have been overflowed, and, rubbing violently 

 upon each other, deposit their spawn in the midst of powerful 

 blows of their tails. " The spawning time in east Prussia falls 

 in the months from February to April, occasionally beginning 

 before the departure of the ice. A single female may deposit 

 as many as a hundred thousand eggs. The young hatch in 



