THE PIKES: DISTBIBUTIOISr AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. H 



Bean (1902) stated that the muskellunge in Chautauqua Lake had 

 been known to reach a weight of 50 pounds, and in the spring 

 of 1895, when eggs were being collected for the Bemus Point 

 hatchery, it was not unusual to take individuals weighing from 40 

 to 50 pounds and many weighing from 20 to 30 pounds. 



At the Minocqua hatchery in Wisconsin James Nevins (1901) 

 mentioned one of 40 pounds. 



HABITAT AND HABITS. 



Habitat. — Wherever the muskeUunge occurs, its habits, so far as 

 they are known, are essentially the same and generally similar to 

 those of other members of the family. 



The seasonal abode of the fish varies somewhat with the size of 

 the fish. In any body of water it generally occurs in the vicinity 

 of water plants at the edge of channels or streams or along the shores, 

 where it lies concealed. 



Referring to the Chautauqua Lake fish, Bean (1908) wrote that 

 when the lake became very clear in February the fish go into deep 

 water and that they five in deep water more or less all of the year, 

 and in winter they frequent nearly the same locaHties as in summer, 

 usually in the vicinity of water plants. 



Mosher (1892) stated that the muskellunge dehght to lurk among 

 weeds or old tree tops that have fallen into the water. There they 

 wiU lie for hours perfectly motionless. 



Henshall (1892) stated that hke all animals of prey it is sohtary in 

 its habits, lying concealed among the water plants and bulhushes at 

 the edges of the streams or channels or along the shores. 



Feeding. — The feeding habits of the muskeUunge are essentially 

 the same as of the other members of the family. As in the case of 

 most predacious fishes, it subsists largely upon other fishes, for which 

 it hes in wait under the concealment of water plants. Its size makes 

 it a formidable engine of destruction, but not more so than other 

 voracious species of hke size. 



Henshall (1892) stated of the muskellunge that, hke all of the pike 

 family, it is a typicaUy piscivorous fish, having its large mouth, jaws, 

 and tongue, armed with a terrible array of long, sharp, conical 

 teeth of various sizes, which form veritable cJievaux-de-frise from 

 which there is no escape for the unlucky fish that is so unfortunate 

 as to be seized by the cruel and relentless jaws. In another place 

 he went on to say that the number of fishes destroyed by a mascalonge, 

 as he called it, dm-ing a summer is almost incredible, and they are 

 not small fry and young fishes, such as devoured by other predacious 

 fishes, but those that have escaped the many dangers and vicissitudes 

 of adolescence and have arrived at an age when they are capable 

 of reproducing their kind. 



