Free Flash Slideshow by cu3ox.com v1.1

Exploring the beautiful nature of California


California Nature: Pike


California is a large state, the 3rd largest in the U.S.A., and depending on where you go, can range broadly in habitat type and, also, climate. For this reason, California plays host to a huge variety of fish.

Fishes are aquatic vertebrates that have fins, gills and scales. Gills are the part of the respiratory system that provide surface area for exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide under water. Fish are ectotherms, commonly referred to as 'cold-blooded', meaning their temperature is regulated by the temperature of their environment. They have a range of diets, being herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores. Some fish reproduce by laying eggs, while others reproduce by bearing live young.

California fish species reside in freshwater and coastal/marine waters. Freshwater fish are fishes that live at least part, if not all, of their lives in bodies of fresh water with a salinity of less than .05%. Forty-one percent of all known fish species are found in freshwater.
northern pike are an invasive freshwater fish in California waters Northern pike are most often olive green, shading into yellow to white along the belly. The flank is marked with short, light bar-like spots and there are a few to many dark spots on the fins. Sometimes the fins are reddish. Younger pike have yellow stripes along a green body, later the stripes divide into light spots and the body turns from green to olive green. The lower half of the gill cover lacks scales and they have large sensory pores on their head and on the underside of the lower jaw which are part of the lateral line system. Unlike the similar-looking and closely related muskellunge, the northern pike has light markings on a dark body background and fewer than six sensory pores on the underside of each side of the lower jaw.

Pike grow to a relatively large size; lengths of 60 inches and weights of 55 pounds are not unheard of. The heaviest specimen known so far was caught in an abandoned stone quarry, in Germany, in 1983. She (the majority of all pikes over 18 poundsare females) was 58 inches long and weighed 68 pounds. The longest pike ever recorded was 60 inches long and weighed 62 pounds.
Northern pike are listed in the California Code of Regulations Title 14 Section 671 as a “detrimental animal” and it is unlawful to import, transport or possess northern pike alive except under permit. In some parts of the country, the northern pike is a popular game fish. A bit bony and toothy, the fish puts up a good fight, which fishermen find rewarding. California state wildlife officials have a different opinion of the fish. They are in midst a $17 million operation to poison the northern pike out of Lake Davis in the Sierra Nevada.

No one knows exactly how the northern pike got from its native waters to Lake Davis, but most people figure they were brought in by someone from Minnesota or a local resident who missed fishing for the feisty pike. But in California, the fish are an unwelcome invader. "They're a voracious fast-growing predator. We don't want them around," said Peter Moyle, a fish biologist at UC-Davis who specializes in invasive species. Pike can get quite large and devour fish up to half their size,  sometimes even waterfowl and small mammals.
California pike can grow to be very large freshwater fish The California Department of Fish and Game tried to poison the pike out of the lake in 1997, but like the plot of a horror movie; 18 months later they were back with a vengeance. Since then, the state has tried electro-fishing, netting, even explosives. And now they're back to poison.

Without a doubt, the northern pike is a voracious predator, consuming three to four times its weight during the course of a year. Besides smaller fish, its diet includes frogs, crayfish, small mammals, and birds,  almost anything within range. Since they have very sharp and numerous teeth, care is required in unhooking a pike. It is recommended that barbless trebles are used when angling for this species as it simplifies dehooking.

Intentional and unintentional introductions of unwanted fish species have plagued California for decades. Simple acts can have far-reaching consequences. At Lake Davis, the Northern Pike encountered no natural predators, so it quickly devoured nearly all the other fish. And water from the lake flows into the San Joaquin Delta, east of San Francisco Bay, which has an abundance of fish. If they escape Lake Davis, the pike could devastate the Delta.
 
 
Website Created by Website Creations

About us      Privacy Disclaimer      Advertisers     Contact Us     Bookstore    Sitemap     Search    Floridian Nature