Family: Esocidae, Pikes view all from this family

Description To 31" (79 cm); 9 3/8 lbs (4.3 kg). Elongate, moderately compressed; olive to yellowish-brown above, sides with dark, chainlike markings; belly whitish, bold, dark bar under eye. Head long, flat above; snout long, profile concave; lower jaw with 4 large sensory pores on each side; opercle fully scaled; 14-15 branchiostegal rays. Caudal fin deeply forked. Lateral line complete, with 110-138 scales.

Related Species Redfin Pickerel (E. americanus americanus) has smaller body; snout short; 11-12 branchiostegal rays; inhabits lowland streams and lakes with vegetation in SW. Quebec, SE. Ontario, and S. Great Lakes, E. and central United States.

Habitat Clean, clear lakes, ponds, swamps, reservoirs, and pools of streams with vegetation.

Range Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, SW. Quebec; Main to New York south in Atlantic Coast streams to S. Florida; Mississippi River system, S. Indiana, SE. Missouri south to Louisiana and Georgia.

Discussion In the northeastern United States Chain Pickerels are especially popular sport fishes in the winter and large numbers are caught through the ice.