PIKE. 
999 
Esox Lucius , Lin., Syst. Nat., ed. X, torn. I, p. 314; Bl., 
Naturg. Fiscli. Deutschl., part. I, p. 229, tab. XXXII; 
Retz., Fna Suec. Lin., p. 350; Pall., Zoogr. Ross. Asiat., 
vol. Ill, p. 336; Ekstr., Vet. Akad. Hand]. 1831. p. 75; 
Nilss., Prodr. Ichthyol. Scand., p. 36; Richardson, Fna 
Bor. Amer., part. Ill, p. 124; Fr., Ekstr., Skand. Fislc., 
ed. 1, p. 49, v. We., tab. X; Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., 
vol. XVIII, p. 279; Sundev., Ofvers. Vet. Akad. Fork. 1851, 
p. 164; Kr., Danm. Fisk., vol. Ill, p. 236; Nilss., Skand. 
Fna, Fisk., p. 348; Sundev., Fiskyng. Utveckl., Vet. -Akad. 
Handl. 1855, p. 11; Stockh. L. Hush.-Sallsk. Handl., H. 6 
(1855), pp. 82, 91, 167; Hckl, Kn.. Siisswasserf. Ostr. 
Mon., p. 287; Sieb., Siisswasserf. Mitteleur., p. 325; Mgrn, 
Finl. Fiskfna, (disp. Helsingfors 1863), p. 66; Gthr, Cat. 
Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. VI, p. 226; Canestr., Fnaltal., pt. Ill, 
p. 21; Lun., Poiss. lac Lem., p. 161, tab. XIX; Coll., Forh. 
Vid. Selsk. Chrnia 1874, Tillsegsk., p. 175; 1879, No. 1, 
p. 94; Olss., 6fvers. Vet. -Akad. Forh. 1876, No. 3, p. 131; 
1882, No. 10, p. 48; Malm, Gigs, Boh. Fna, p. 550; Fed- 
ders., Naturh. Tidskr. Kbhvn, ser. 3, vol. XII, p. 81; Bncke, 
Fisch. Fischer., Fiscliz. 0., W. Preuss., p. 165; Mor., Hist. 
Nat. Poiss. Fr., tom. Ill, p. 466; Mela, Vertebr. Fenn ., 
p. 355; tab. X; Jord., Gilb., Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 16, 
p. 353; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., vol. II, p. 139, tab. 
CXXVI; M6b., Hcke, Fisch. Osts., p. 134; Reut., Sundm., 
Finl. Fisk., tab. XII; Lillj., Sv., Norg. Fisk., vol. II, p. 
476; Fat., Fne Vert. Suisse, vol. V, p. 419. 
Esox estor, Le Sueur, Val. p. p., nec Dekay; vide Jord., 
Gilb., 1. c.’ 
The maximum size attained by the Pike in Sweden 
may be estimated, on the authority of several trust- 
worthy statements from different places, at a length of 
19 dm. and a weight of 26 kilo". Pike of this size 
are, however, at least in our times, of rare occurrence; 
most of the specimens taken measure between 3 and 
12 dm. The relation between the length and Aveigbt 
varies in different individuals. In old and nearly full- 
grown Pike the Aveight increases in a greater propor- 
tion than the length. 
The elongated body becomes shallower at the head 
and tail; but between these points the depth is almost 
uniform, so long as the belly is not distended with 
food or tumid organs of generation. The greatest depth 
measures as a rule 157 2 — 17 % of the length, and the 
greatest breadth is rather more than half, as a rule 
about 52 — 57 %, of the greatest depth. In a transverse 
section the body is more or less distinctly quadrilateral, 
Avith rounded angles, and broadest in the dorsal region, 
groAving more or less compressed towards the belly. 
The back is ahvays broad and convex, the belly mostly 
flat. The least depth of the body measures in the fry 
about 35- — 36 %, in adult Pike about 38 — 43 %, of the 
greatest depth, or in the former about 17 — 20 %, in the 
latter about 24 — 28 %, of the length of the head. 
The length of the head measures in the fry (about 
V 2 dm. long) about 32 % of that of the body, in full- 
groAvn Pike about 27 — 30 % thereof. Its posterior out- 
lines form an uninterrupted continuation of those of the 
body, but in front of the eyes it is depressed into a 
hollow, with the sides somewhat widened in front, and 
the tip rounded in an horizontal direction, thus acquir- 
ing a resemblance to a duck’s bill. The cleft of the 
mouth is large, extending beloAv the anterior margins 
of the eyes 6 . The mouth shows a structure peculiar to 
the Pike and intimately connected Avith its well-knoAvn 
voracity, in which respect it is surpassed by feAv fishes. 
The bones entering into the apparatus of the jaAvs are 
endoAved Avith great mobility, the mouth being capable 
of considerable distension; and both jaAvs, the palate, 
and the pharynx, including the branchial arches, are 
Avell armed Avith sharp, retrorse teeth. The mobility 
and expansiveness of the jaws are supplemented by 
the free articulation of the opercular apparatus. 
As Ave have mentioned above, the intermaxillaries 
(pmx, fig. 253) are widely separated by the broad, flat, 
prominent, and cartilaginous ethmoid bone ( etcr ), Avhich 
groAvs broader in front, and, supported by the vomer 
(vom), forms the anterior margin of the upper jaAv. 
The ethmoidal cartilage is furnished not only Avith this 
inferior covering-bone, the vomer, but also Avith two 
pairs of upper covering-bones, the supraethmoids, called 
by others the nasal bones ( spet , 1 and 2), the anterior 
pair situated above and beside the long nasal processes 
(frn) of the frontal bones, Avhich processes extend al- 
most to the tip of the snout. By means of cartilaginous 
joints the small intermaxillaries articulate Avith the an- 
terior outer angle of the ethmoidal cartilage and the 
last-mentioned nasal bones. An ascending process, flat 
and incurved, of the intermaxillaries overlies the an- 
terior extremities both of the maxillaries and of the 
concave articular head on the anterior outer end of the 
° The Fisheries Commission of 1881 — 83 received from several provinces information of Pike 15 — 19 dm. long and 17 — 26 kilo, 
in weight. 
h The length of the upper jaw from the . middle of the tip of the snout to the hind extremities of the maxillary bones occupies in 
the fry (about ] / 2 dm. long) about 38 %, in Pike 4 — 5 dm. long about 46 — 49 %, of the length of the head; and the length of the maxil- 
laries measures in the latter about 38 — 40 %, and their greatest breadth (across the supplementary bone) about 7 — 8 %, of the same. The 
length of the lower jaw is about 65 — 69 % (in the young about 60 %) of that of the head. 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
126 
