THE PIKE 



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States, indicate a family distinguished from the Cyprinodontidcz by the upper jaw 

 margin being formed in front by the premaxillary bones and by the maxillary bones 

 at the sides; the base of the skull being of simple structure in both families. Like 

 the cyprinodonts, the umbres have the head and body scaled, and no barbels to the 

 mouth. There is no fatty fin, and the dorsal is opposite the pel vies, or a little be- 

 hind them, while the anal is short, and the caudal rounded. The stomach merely 

 forms an expansion of the intestine; the air bladder is simple; and the false gills are 

 hidden and glandular. The European species, which is known as the hunds-fisch 

 in Germany, dwells in marshes and muddy pools, where it buries itself in the mud 

 at the bottom. As in most cyprinodonts, the males are smaller and more slender 

 than the females, scarcely reaching a couple of inches ill length, whereas the latter 

 grow to three or three and one-half inches. 



THE PIKE Family 



Such a familiar fish as the pike (Esox lucius) scarcely requires much in the 

 way of description, but it is an important one as representing, with other members 

 of the same genus, a family by itself. Agreeing with the umbres in the structure 

 of the jaws, pike may be distinguished externally by the absence of scales on the 

 head, and internally by the more complex structure of the base of the skull. The 

 body is covered with cycloid scales; there are neither barbels nor a fatty fin; and 

 the dorsal is situated in the caudal region of the vertebral column, in the position of 

 the fatty fin of the salmon tribe. The stomach has no blind appendage, the false 

 gills are glandular and concealed, and the gill opening is unusually wide. In the 



COMMON PIKE. 



upper jaw sickle-shaped teeth are borne by the premaxillae, palatines, and vomer, 

 the maxillae being toothless, while the lower teeth are of variable shape. The long 

 narrow body terminates in a forked caudal fin; and the long, broad, and depressed 

 snout has the lower jaw exceeding the upper in length. Confined to the fresh 

 waters of the temperate regions of the three northern continents, pike may be con- 

 sidered a western rather than an eastern type, seeing that whereas the common 

 species has a range equivalent to that of the family, the whole of the other six 

 species are confined to the United States. In Europe the pike inhabits all the Rus- 

 sian rivers, with the exception of those of the Crimea and Transcaucasia, and is 



