Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing the northern pike. These fish live in lakes, rivers, and streams throughout the northern hemisphere. They prefer clear, shallow, slow-moving water with dense vegetation in which they can hide. They're ambush predators and sit camouflaged in foliage, locked in an S-shape until something swims by. Then the northern pike strikes out with its duck-bill shaped mouth equipped with sharp teeth to grab the unfortunate passerby. These fish eat other fish, frogs, crustaceans, insects, and sometimes even a lost bird or mammal who has stumbled into the water. Northern pikes even eat each other. In fact, in studies of their stomach contents, a northern pike had been found inside the stomach of a northern pike that was found inside the stomach of another northern pike. It's fish-ception!

These fish average about twenty inches (51cm) in length but they can more than double this at max size. The females are larger and live longer than the males. Depending on where they live, they range from light green to dark olive in color with light, bean-shaped spots. Individuals living in clear water tend to be brighter in color. They're often found between three and fifteen feet (0.9-4.6m) below the water's surface, but can live 100 feet (30cm) deep.

These fish have a single dorsal fin located towards their tail situation just above and before the anal fin. They also have yellow, mobile eyes which, like a chameleon, provide these predators an excellent view of their surroundings. They're known as water wolves for their voraciousness, and animals even avoid their poop. Northern pike feces is deposited in an area away from where they forge and is believed to give off alarm pheromones which keep other fish away. Though northern pikes are known as "wolves of the pond" they fall prey to other fish, birds, and aquatic mammals like otters. Humans also fish for northern pikes for both sport and food.

For breeding, these fish travel upstream to flooded areas and shallow marshland. They spawn in spring when the water temperature is just over 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4.4 degrees Celsius). A female releases small clusters of eggs every few minutes for a few hours over the course of about a week. One or two males follow behind her and fertilize the eggs. It takes about two weeks for the eggs to hatch and neither parent provides any parental care, though the males remain in the spawning grounds longer than the females. It takes about two to three years for the males to reach reproductive maturity and another year or two for the females. If they can avoid threats, northern pikes can live more than a decade in the wild. 

For more facts on northern pikes, check out the links below. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today. Thank you to our Patrons SpikeSpiegel93, Dad, and everyone else for their support of this channel! And thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!