THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 21 



Breeding. — Since, unfoj'tmiately, not much has been written con- 

 cerning the breeding habits of the American pike, it is again necessary 

 to rely for information mainly upon what has been published respect- 

 ing the European fish. However, if the two are specifically iden- 

 tical, the general habits are probably much the same. 



Smitt (1892) has quite fully described the spawning process of the 

 Scandinavian pike, and his description essentially agrees with the 

 account of the Gennan fish given by Benecke. 



In the spring before there is open water in the lakes the pike com- 

 mences to approach the shores, and breeding individuals in particular 

 repair to those parts of the shore having inlets. When the spring is 

 so far advanced that the lakes are free of ice, the brooks clear, and 

 the low-lying meadows about the shores are mider water, the larger 

 pike make their way to those inimdated places and begin to spawn. 



The spawning is of long dm'ation, its season depending upon the 

 age of the fish, the young spawning first. When they have finished, 

 the middle-sized pike begin, and the oldest and largest spawn last of 

 all. Generally there are laid about 100,000 yellowish eggs about 

 3 millimeters in diameter, out of which in the course of 14 days the 

 young with theh great umbihcal sacs escape. The spawning time in 

 eastern Prussia was given as during the months of February to April, 

 and occasionally the spawning of the first pikes occurs before the 

 departure of the ice. (Benecke, 1880 and 1885.) In Illinois the 

 pike spawns in March, selecting shore water about a foot and a half 

 in depth, and the young hatch in about 14 days (Forbes, 1908). 



Benecke (1880 and 1885) stated that it lives a hermit life, consorting 

 in pairs only during the spawning season, but Smitt said that the 

 females, which are always larger, come to the spawning places each 

 attended by two or three or, in rare cases, four males ; also that the 

 females swim so high in the water that when the weather is cahn 

 the surface is faintly rippled by their movements and the dorsal and 

 caudal fins may be seen above the sm'face. As soon as the female 

 halts the males approach and surround her, one on each side or, if 

 more than two, one under the tail and perhaps one above the back. 

 They rub themselves against her body, during which operation she 

 keeps stiU, only moving the fins, after which she disperses the males 

 with a sudden lash of her body and darts to another point, meanwhile 

 having deposited in the grassy bottom the yellowish and coarse- 

 grained roe which is impregnated by the milt. At the new location 

 the operation is repeated. Benecke, however, states that the fish 

 rub violently against each other and the spawn is deposited, accom- 

 panied by powerful blows of the tail. 



The number of eggs yielded by a pike, of course, depends upon the 

 size of the fish. Pennel (1886) stated that a pike produces about 

 80,000 eggs, while Jardine (1898) placed the number at 100,000. 

 Bloch counted in a pike weighing a httle over 6 pounds 136,500 ova, 



