154 AMERICAN FISHES 



ABDOMINAL 



MALACOPTERYGIL ESOCID^. 



GREAT NORTHERN PICKEREL. 



Esox Lucioides; Agassiz. 



THIS great Pike, like the last, is peculiar to the basin of the St 

 Lawrence, and was first clearly described and specified during the 

 scientific tour to Lake Superior, which I have already mentioned, by 

 Prof. Agassiz, who pointed out its distinctions, both from the European 

 Pike, and the Mascalonge, to the former of which, Esox Lucius , it is 

 by far the most closely allied, although it appears to have been con- 

 founded with both Le Sueur^ who first gave a distinct specific name 

 to the Mascalonge, having described it as the fish now under consid- 

 eration, Esox Lucioides , and not at all as Esox Estor. 



The Northern Pickerel is taken up to the weight of sixteen or 

 seventeen pounds, but rarely, I believe, exceeds that weight. It is an 

 exceedingly handsome fish, longer and slighter, in proportion to its 

 depth, than the Mascalonge. 



Its body is four-sided, the back broader and flatter than the belly ; 

 the vertical diameter is equal to about one-seventh of the body, caudal 

 included ; the transverse diameter is two-thirds of the vertical ; the 

 body carries its thickness to the dorsal fin, and then tapers into the 

 thin tail ; the sides are compressed and flattened ; the head is about 

 one-fifth the length of the body ; the snout not nearly so long, and 

 much more obtuse, than in the Mascalonge ; the under jaw does not 

 exceed the upper in length nearly so much as in that fish, and is 

 armed around all the fore part with a single row of small, slightly- 

 hooked teeth ; on the sides of the lower jaw are a row of larger awl- 

 shaped teeth, implanted in the bone ; the palate bones, vomer, and 

 pharyngeal arches, are all armed with bands of small sharp teeth, like 

 carding machines, as in the former species ; the tongue is broad, and 

 truncated at the tip. 



The gill-covers ai'u ii-arly as they are described in the Mascalonge, 



