THE GREAT NORTHERN PICKEREL. 181 





CHAPTEE XYL 



THE GREAT NORTHERN PICKEREL. 



Esox Lucioides. This fish is very similar to the mas- 

 callonge, so much so that it is not mentioned in most of 

 the works on American Ichthyology, being confounded 

 with the latter. The principal differences in appearance 

 are, that the snout of the pickerel, the under jaw espe- 

 cially, is shorter and more obtuse than that of the mas- 

 callonge, the light tint of its sides is yellower, and it 

 never attains over twenty-five pounds. The markings 

 on the sides are somewhat different, the light, elongated 

 spots of the pickerel, being occasionally replaced in the 

 mascallonge by dark spots on a greyish ground, and the 

 fin-rays are not so numerous. 



Dorsal 18 ; Pectoral 16 ; Yentral 10 ; Anal 15 and 

 Caudal 24 



Or, according to Professor Agassiz 



D. 21 ; P. 16 ; Y. 11 ; A. 16 ; C. 17. 



The principal color is dark grey, lighter on the sides 

 than on the back. 



These fish are caught in all the sluggish waters of the 

 North, and on the same ground and at the same time with 

 the mascallonge, and coincide with him entirely in habits 

 and disposition. They exhibit the same ferocity, are 

 allured by the same baits, entrapped in the same manner, 

 and, in a culinary point of view are, if possible, inferior. 



