THE BOOK OF THE PIKE 



There would seem to be no good reason why cross- 

 fertilization might not quite frequently occur between 

 pickerels and great pikes, unless nature has endowed 

 them with a great and insurmountable antipathy for 

 each other, for structurally and in habits they are 

 essentially alike. At the time of spawning, a ripe 

 female, companioned by one or more males, swims 

 about erratically over the shallows or inundated 

 marshes. Eggs and milt are ejected from time to 

 time, here and there, each ejection being accompanied 

 with violent tail lashings and bodily contortions, 

 effectually distributing both milt and eggs over a 

 considerable area. Now as great pike and pickerel 

 spawn at practically the same time (indeed, spawning 

 pickerel have been observed crossing the path of 

 spawning great pike more than once), suppose this 

 crossing should take place at the proper moment, it 

 is inconceivable but that some of the eggs from both 

 species of females should be impregnated by the milt 

 from the males of opposite species. Would such acci- 

 dently impregnated eggs "hatch" and develop into 

 fish? It was to answer the question satisfactorily that 

 Mr. G. C. Embody, of Cornell University, conducted 

 a careful and lengthy series of experiments, as reported 

 in the Journal of Heredity for October, 191 8. I now 

 quote from his article: 



"On March 30, 191 7, tlie eggs from a 30.5 cm. pickerel having 

 typical characters were artificially pressed into a moistened pan 

 and covered with milt from a male pike likewise typical of its 

 species. The reciprocal cross was not attempted. About 70 

 per cent of the eggs developed normally, and those not pre- 

 served for future study hatched in from six to ten days. A few 

 of the young were reared in an aquarium to lengths varying 

 from 3.8 c, to 6.4 com., after which they were transferred to a 

 small newly made artificial pond of stagnant water. When six 

 months old, three specimens were captured and gave lengths of 

 15.2, 13.8, and 9. 1 cm., respectively." 



This is of utmost interest, for it proves that cross- 

 fertilization is possible, at least artificially. Further- 

 more, in the artificially produced hybrids the scaling 



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