Alternate name: Barred Pickerel

Family: Esocidae, Pikes view all from this family

Description To 15" (38 cm). Elongate. Dark olive to brown above; sides lighter, with dark greenish-yellow to brown wavy bars; dark bar under eye slopes down and back; fins reddish, without dark spots. Head long; snout short, with straight profile; 4 sensory pores on each side of lower jaw; 11–13 (usually 12) branchiostegal rays. Cheek and opercle fully scaled. Lateral line complete, with 97–118 scales.

Similar Species Chain Pickerel (E. niger) has dark chain-like pattern on sides, vertical bar under eye, and 14–17 (usually 15) branchiostegal rays.

Habitat Slow to standing waters of creeks and rivers, ponds, lakes, and swamps with vegetation.

Range St. Lawrence River west through s Great Lakes and south to Gulf coast from FL to TX; absent from Appalachian Mountains.

Discussion This is the smallest member of the family and the only one not considered an important sport fish.