FISHES 



123 



spring, laying its eggs in a single mass which stretches out ribbon-like, 

 sometimes 7 feet or more. 



2. Stizostedion Rafinesque. Body elongate; fusiform; head long; 

 premaxillaries protractile; top of head scaly; mouth large; jaws equal; 

 tail forked; ventral fins well separated; lateral line continuous; branchio- 

 stegals 7; pseudobranchiaj well developed: 2 species, both important 

 food and game fishes. 



Key to the Species of Stizostedion 



ai Cheek and opercle sparsely scaled 5. vilreum. 



a.2 Cheek and opercle fully scaled S. canadense. 



S. vitreum (Mitchill). Wall-eye pike; pike-perch (Fig. 55). Length 

 up to 900 mm.; weight up to 25 lbs.; head 3.6; depth 4.5; color dark 

 olive green, blotched with darker; belly pinkish; anterior dorsal fin with 



Fig. 55. — Stizostedion vitreum {from Jordan bf Evermann) . 



a large black spot on its hinder part; rays of dorsal fins XII to XVI- 

 19 to 21; anal II, 12 to 14; scales lo-iio to 132-25; pyloric caeca 3, of 

 nearly equal length; sides of head almost naked; Vermont and Pennsyl- 

 vania to Saskatchewan; southward to Georgia; northward to Hudson 

 Bay; very common northward. 



S. canadense (Smith). Sanger; sand pike. Length 450 mm.; head 

 3.5; depth 4.5 to 6; color olive gray; sides brassy or orange, with dark 

 mottlings; spinous dorsal fin with 3 irregular rows of black spots; rays of 

 dorsal fins XI to XV-I, 17 to 19; anal II, 11 or 12; scales 9-100 to 125-27; 

 pyloric caeca 5 to 8, of unequal length; sides of head scaly: Great Lakes 

 and St. Lawrence regions; westward to Montana; southward to 

 Tennessee and Arkansas. 



Subspecies of S. canadense 



S. c. griseum (DeKay). Head less completely scaled; head bones 

 and opercles smoother: Great Lakes and southward. 



