The chain pickerel (''Esox niger'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

freshwater fish Freshwater fish are those that spend some or all of their lives in fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 1.05%. These environments differ from marine conditions in many ways, especially the difference in levels of ...

in the pike

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

(family

Esocidae Esocidae is a family of fish in the order Esociformes, which contains pike, pickerel, and mudminnows. While the family traditionally only contained the genus ''Esox'', recent genetic and paleontological research have recovered ''Novumbra'' and ' ...

) of order

Esociformes The Esociformes () are a small order of ray-finned fish, with two families, Umbridae and Esocidae. The pikes of genus '' Esox'' give the order its name. This order is closely related to the Salmoniformes, the two comprising the superorder Prot ...

. The chain pickerel and the

American pickerel The American pickerels are two subspecies of ''Esox americanus'', a medium-sized species of North American freshwater predatory fish belonging to the pike family (genus ''Esox'' in family Esocidae of order Esociformes): * Redfin pickerel, somet ...

(''E. americanus'') belong to the ''Esox''

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of pike.

Taxonomy

French naturalist

Charles Alexandre Lesueur Charles Alexandre Lesueur (1 January 1778 in Le Havre – 12 December 1846 in Le Havre) was a French naturalist, artist, and explorer. He was a prolific natural-history collector, gathering many type specimens in Australia, Southeast Asia, ...

described the chain pickerel in 1818. Its species name is the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word ''niger'' "black". Nicknames in the southeastern United States are the "southern pike", "grass pike", "jack", "jack fish", and "eastern pickerel".

Description

The chain pickerel has a distinctive, dark, chain-like pattern on its greenish sides. There is a vertical dark marking underneath the eye, which helps to distinguish the chain pickerel from

redfin pickerel The redfin pickerel (''Esox americanus americanus'') is a subspecies of freshwater fish belonging to the pike family (Esocidae) of the order Esociformes. Not to be confused with its close relatives, the grass pickerel and the chain pickerel, th ...

(''Esox americanus americanus'') and

grass pickerel The American pickerels are two subspecies of ''Esox americanus'', a medium-sized species of North American freshwater predatory fish belonging to the pike family (genus '' Esox'' in family Esocidae of order Esociformes): * Redfin pickerel, ...

(''E. americanus vermiculatus''), in which the mark curves posteriorly. Its body outline resembles that of the

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus '' Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are known simply as a ...

(''E. lucius''). Unlike northern pike, however, the

opercle The operculum is a series of bones found in bony fish and chimaeras that serves as a facial support structure and a protective covering for the gills; it is also used for respiration and feeding. Anatomy The opercular series contains four b ...

s and cheeks of chain pickerel are entirely scaled. It may reach up to long only on rare occasions. The average size for chain pickerel, however, is 24 in (61 cm) and 3 lb (1 1/2 kg). (The average chain pickerel caught by fishermen is under 2 lb). It lives around 8 yr. In some places the pickerel is known as a "gunfish", "gunny" or "slime dart", due to its characteristic slime coating.

Distribution

Its range is along the eastern coast of North America from southern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and west to Texas. On the Atlantic Coast, in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, and

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

although it is considered an invasive species in Nova Scotia, the chain pickerel extend as far as 46°N. The fish inhabits fresh and brackish water from the

Mississippi Valley The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

. It also is commonly found in

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

and the lower portion of the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

.''Pike, Pickerel and Muskalonge'', Alfred C. Weed,

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

Leaflet 9, Field Museum of Natural History,

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, 1927, pg. 19. It is considered invasive in northern areas.

Habitat

Chain pickerel live in a variety of habitats, including pools within creeks or rivers, lakes with vegetation cover, swamps and other

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s. Chain pickerel are tolerant of

brackish water Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

with salinity levels of up to 22 ppt. They are also acid-tolerant to a pH of 3.8.

Diet

Like the northern pike, the chain pickerel feeds primarily on smaller fish, until it grows large enough to ambush large fish from cover with a rapid lunge and to secure it with its sharp teeth. Chain pickerel are also known to eat frogs, snakes, worms, mice, crayfish, insects, and a wide variety of other foods. It is not unusual for pickerel to leap out of the water at flying insects, or even at dangling fishing lures. Raney (1942) studied chain pickerel in a New York pond and found that

golden shiner The golden shiner (''Notemigonus crysoleucas'') is a cyprinid fish native to eastern North America. It is the sole member of its genus. Much used as a bait fish, it is probably the most widely pond-cultured fish in the United States. It can be fo ...

s were found in the stomachs of 47.3% of the 234 chain pickerel examined.

Brown bullhead The brown bullhead (''Ameiurus nebulosus'') is a fish of the family Ictaluridae that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead (''Ameiurus melas'') and yellow bullhead (''Am ...

s were found in 13.8%, and

pumpkinseed The pumpkinseed (''Lepomis gibbosus''), also referred to as pond perch, common sunfish, punkie, sunfish, sunny, and kivver, is a small/medium-sized North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Lepomis'' (true sunfishes), from family Centrarchi ...

sunfish were found in 13.2%. Crayfish of the genus '' Cambarus'' were present in 42% of the chain pickerel. Chain pickerel mouth

Reproduction

Spawning occurs in flooded vegetation at the end of winter or beginning of spring when the water temperature is between . A secondary fall spawning has been reported in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Fertilization is external and eggs and sperm are mixed by the adults' tail movements. Up to 50,000 eggs may be released by the female. No parental care is provided, and the eggs hatch between six and twelve days after they are laid. The fry possess adhesive glands on their snouts that they use to attach to vegetation. It takes six to eight days for the fry to absorb their

yolk Among animals which produce eggs, the yolk (; also known as the vitellus) is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg whose primary function is to supply food for the development of the embryo. Some types of egg contain no yolk, for example ...

sac, at which point they begin to actively hunt.

Angling

The chain pickerel is a popular

sport fish Game fish, sport fish or quarry refer to popular fish pursued by recreational anglers, and can be freshwater or saltwater fish. Game fish can be eaten after being caught, or released after capture. Some game fish are also targeted commercial ...

. It is an energetic fighter when hooked. Anglers have success with live

minnow Minnow is the common name for a number of species of small freshwater fish, belonging to several genera of the families Cyprinidae and Leuciscidae. They are also known in Ireland as pinkeens. Smaller fish in the subfamily Leusciscidae are c ...

spinnerbait A spinnerbait or spinner is any one of a family of hybrid fishing lures that combines the designs of a swimbait with one or more spoon lure blades. Spinnerbaits get the name from the action of the metallic blades, which passively revolve around ...

spoon A spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily f ...

s, topwater lures, plugs, and

flies Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced m ...

, usually tied with some kind of feather or bucktail material. If the angler intends to release a fish, it is advisable use pliers to flatten the barbs on the lure's hooks. Chain pickerel can swallow an entire lure, so it will be much easier to free a deeply hooked fish and get it back into the water as soon as possible. Chain pickerel - Cranston RI

Practically any bass lure can be effective for pickerel, although like most pike, they seem to be particularly susceptible to flashy lures which imitate small

forage fish Forage fish, also called prey fish or bait fish, are small pelagic fish which are preyed on by larger predators for food. Predators include other larger fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Typical ocean forage fish feed near the base of the foo ...

. Dragging a plastic worm, lizard, frog, or other soft imitation can also be extremely effective. A Texas rig method is recommended with these soft baits for productive fishing in the weeds. A steel leader is necessary for sharp-toothed and active fish at two to three pounds. The angler would also do well to use 12- to 17-lb-test line on an open-faced spinning reel. Methods are similar to those for bass, such as dragging a lure through weeds in shallow water and jerking it side-to-side to give it the look of injured prey. Chain pickerel are voracious and opportunistic feeders, and will attack most any fodder that moves into their range of vision. The

International Game Fish Association The International Game Fish Association (''IGFA'') is the leading authority on angling pursuits and the keeper of the most current World Record fishing catches by fish categories. Fishermen who are sport fishers are careful to follow their string ...

(IGFA) all-tackle world record chain pickerel is a fish, caught in

Homerville, Georgia Homerville is a city in Clinch County, Georgia, United States. Its population was 2,456 at the 2010 census, a decrease of 12.38% from 2,803 in 2000. It is the county seat of Clinch County. It was incorporated February 15, 1869. History Clinch C ...

on February 17, 1961 by angler Baxley McQuaig, Jr., while the IGFA all-tackle length world record is long, caught in Henderson Harbor,

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

, New York on November 4, 2019 by angler Burnie Haney.

References

External links

GLANSIS Species FactSheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q93596

Chain pickerel The chain pickerel (''Esox niger'') is a species of freshwater fish in the pike family (family Esocidae) of order Esociformes. The chain pickerel and the American pickerel (''E. americanus'') belong to the ''Esox'' genus of pike. Taxonomy Fren ...

Fish of the Eastern United States Fish of the Great Lakes Fauna of the Northeastern United States Freshwater fish of the Southeastern United States

Freshwater fish of North America