Northern Pike

🗺️ Habitat

Clear to slightly weedy lakes, rivers, and streams in northern North America and across Eurasia. Prefers shallow areas with abundant aquatic vegetation for ambush.

🔍 How to Identify Northern Pike

• 1Long, cylindrical body with a distinctive duck-bill shaped snout
• 2Olive-green body with light bean-shaped or oval spots in rows
• 3Fully scaled cheek and upper half of gill cover (lower half unscaled)
• 4Single dorsal fin set far back on the body, near the tail
• 5Large mouth with numerous long, sharp teeth and smaller teeth on roof of mouth

🍽️ Diet

Fish, frogs, crayfish, ducks, muskrats, and small mammals — virtually any prey that fits in their mouth

💡 Fun Facts About Northern Pike

• ★Pike are ambush predators that can remain motionless for hours waiting for prey
• ★They have been observed attacking and consuming waterfowl, muskrats, and even small dogs
• ★The all-tackle world record northern pike weighed 55 lbs 1 oz, caught in Germany in 1986
• ★Pike teeth point backward — once prey is grabbed, it cannot escape
• ★In some European cultures, pike was considered the "king of the river" and consumed at royal feasts

🛡️ Conservation Status

Least Concern — widespread and abundant in suitable habitats

🔗 Related Species