Wall-eyed Pike ; Pike-perch 



This genus contains 2 species, large, carnivorous fishes of the 

 fresh waters of North America, highly valued as food and ranking 

 among our most interesting and important game-fishes. 



a. Pyloric cosca 3, of nearly equal length, and each about as long as 

 the stomach vitreum, 36 1 



aa. Pyloric coeca 5 to 7, 4 of them much shorter than the stomach, 

 the others smaller and variable canadense, 363 



Wall-eyed Pike; Pike-perch 



Sti^pstedion vitreum (Mitchill) 



This important fish is a species of wide distribution. It is found 

 from Lake Champlain westward throughout the Great Lakes region and 

 to Assiniboia. It is native also to the small lakes of New York and the 

 Susquehanna and Juniata rivers, east of the Alleghenies. In the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley it occurs in many of the larger streams and small lakes as 

 far south as Georgia and Alabama. Though found in many streams, it 

 is preferably a fish of the lakes, and it reaches its greatest abundance in 

 the Great Lakes, particularly in Lake Erie. In different parts of its 

 range it is known by different names. Among the Great Lakes it is 

 called the wall-eyed pike, yellow pike, dore or dory by the French-Cana- 

 dians, and pickerel in places where the true pike (Esox lucius) is found. 



In the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers, and in the small lakes of 

 northern Indiana, it is known as salmon or jack salmon, names absurd 

 and wholly without excuse. Southward in the Mississippi Valley it is 

 the jack. Elsewhere it is called okow, blowfish, or green pike. In 

 the Great Lakes, particularly in Lakes Erie and Ontario, the young of a 



361 



