PIKES AND PIKE PERCH 24 
The sauger is etguished from the other species by the larger 
number of } pyloric cxeca—5 to 8 (instead of 3)—its fewer dorsal rays 
(17 to 19), and een of black blotch at the posterior end of the 
spinous dorsal. 
The yellow pike perch attains a maximum size of 40 pounds, the 
average being from 5 to 10 pounds. The blue pike perch occasionally 
may reach a Ww eight of 5 pounds, but averages under 1 pound. The 
sauger seldom exceeds a length of 18 inches and a weight of 2 pounds. 
The yellow form usually is found in the larger streams, and in the 
Great Lakes seeks water 10 to 40 feet deep, while the blue form pre- 
fers water 30 to 75 feet deep. 

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION * 
The pike perch prefers clear water, with rock, gravel, sand, or 
hard-clay bottom. It is not often found in streams or lakes with 
bottoms ‘of mud. The center of its abundance is Lake Erie, though 
it is one of the most widely distributed of our fresh-water fishes. Its 
range extends along the Atlantic seaboard from Connecticut as far 
south as North Carolina; thence to the northern portions of Ala- 
bama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Arkansas on the south, with Kansas, 
Nebraska, the Dakotas, and the Assiniboine River its western limits 
and the Hudson Bay its northern boundary. 
Over the greater part of this vast area it is fairly abundant, and 
in all of the waters of the Great Lakes region, the Mississippi Basin, 
and the southern portion, at least, of the Hudson Bay system it is 
commercially important. In New Hampshire, Connecticut, New 
Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania it is not indigenous. Its adapt- 
ability to suitable new waters is shown by its acclimatization in the 
Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers in Pennsylvania and in many 
small lakes in Michigan, where it has multiplied rapidly and is a 
great favorite with anglers and epicures. 
The range of the sauger is less extensive. It extends from the Red 
River of the north and the Assiniboine River through the Great 
Lakes region, west to the upper Missouri and south to Arkansas and 
Tennessee. 
ECONOMIC VALUE, FOOD AND GAME QUALITIES 
The pike perches are among the most valuable of the fresh-water 
fishes. The following table shows the number of pounds and the 
value of the pike perches taken in the Great Lakes region during 
1922: 





Lake Pounds Value Lake Pounds Value 
23, 298 Soy Lost | PONntATION: 5758 Lett ON 153, 850 $29, 637 
132, 948 21,185 || Lake of the Woods and 
1, 260, 374 171, 102 45/21 lc yl U2 (ee hy Ae LN a 831, 558 71, 761 
38, 620 5, 741 a 
22, 357, 996 | 1, 285, 399 ORAL = .+s = 2 pez aay 24, 798, 644 | 1, 588, 093 






5The blue pike perch has only recently been described as a distinct species, and its 
geographical distribution, habits, etc., have not as yet been definitely differentiated from 
those of the yellow form, 
