202 FISH CULTURE 



fertilising, and before being placed in the hatch- 

 ing-jars, where the treatment should be the 

 same as that for whitefish or shad. It is pos- 

 sible to gather eggs of the pickerel naturally 

 deposited, but it is better to keep the fish in 

 captivity and take the eggs from them by ex- 

 pression. A pond of three-fourths of an acre 

 or an acre will contain many hundreds of 

 pickerel in good health and condition if they are 

 liberally fed with live food, for the pickerel will 

 take only a moving life-like object. 



Spawning begins very early in the year, soon 

 after the ice disappears ; but the spawning sea- 

 son is very short, and the hatching period is 

 about two weeks. As the pickerel is strongly 

 a carnivorous fish, it is important that the fry 

 be not placed in the same ponds with mature 

 specimens, but kept in smaller ponds, as would 

 be done with any other carnivorous species. 

 Growth is very rapid, and cannibalism, even 

 among the young, strongly developed, hence 

 persons desiring to rear their stock to maturity 

 must expect heavy loss from this quarter. 



Among the members of the pike family are 

 four which attain large proportions and weight. 



