THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 



vertical bars of a darker green which do not break 

 up distinctly into spots. The fin-spots are greenish 

 rather than black. The North Wisconsin fish, Esox 

 immaculatus, differs from the first muskellunge men- 

 tioned, in having the body entirely unspotted, some- 

 times with indistinct darker cross-shades. 



It is this fish of the smaller Wisconsin and Minne- 

 sota lakes which is responsible to a great extent for 

 the confusion in some anglers' minds. So different is 

 it in appearance from the others that they are inclined 

 to argue that the other muskellunge do not belong to 

 the Esox nobilior, as some ichthyologists prefer to 

 denominate the muskellunge. Jordan and Evermann, 

 whose classification I follow, and uho are responsible 

 for the three species, confess that the Wisconsin- 

 Minnesota form has not been studied critically in 

 relation to the other two. Personally, I have not had 

 sufficient opportunity to study the Chautauqua fish to 

 render an opinion, though by the mere fact that the 

 Wisconsin-Minnesota angler is so determined that his 

 is the only true muskellunge, I am quite convinced the 

 markings of his particular fish must be very uniform 

 and well defined. So far as my own observation has 

 gone, the Wisconsin-Minnesota fish does differ in ap- 

 pearance, though not in squamation, branchiostegals, 

 dentition, or body-form from the Great Lakes denizen. 

 As all anglers know, the classification of fish depends 

 not upon appearance or coloration, which are largely 

 the result of food and environment, but upon ana- 

 tomical or structural differences. 



All ichthyologists are not agreed that there are 

 three varieties of muskellunge, maintaining that the 

 asserted differences are not constant. Dr. James A. 



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