Esox lucius, Linnaeus, 1758

Freyhof, JÖrg, Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash & Kaya, Cüneyt, 2025, Handbook of Freshwater Fishes of West Asia, De Gruyter : 617-618

Esox lucius

Common name. Pike.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from other freshwater fishes in West Asia by: ○ snout long / ○ mouth large / ○ dorsal origin slightly in front of anal origin / ○ 105–148 total lateral line scales. Size up to 1300 mm SL.

Distribution. Native to Caspian, Black, Baltic, White, Barents, Arctic, North and Aral Seas and Atlantic basins, southwest to Loire drainage; Mediterranean basin, in Rhône drainage. Widespread in North America, Central Asia, and Siberia east to Anadyr drainage (Bering Sea basin). Historically absent from North Africa, Mediterranean, endorheic basins of West Asia, and Persian Gulf basin. Also, non-native to Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean France, Italy, southern and western Greece, eastern Adriatic basin, Iceland, western Norway, and northern Scotland. Now widely introduced and translocated throughout West Asia, North Africa and Europe.

Habitat. Occurs in a variety of habitats with aquatic or periodically flooded vegetation. Often semi-anadromous in parts of northern Baltic basin with lower salinity.

Biology. Males spawn first at 170–350 mm SL, females at 250–400 mm SL, at 1–6 years. Reproduction closely linked to presence of submerged vegetation. Spawns in late winter–early spring, between February in south and June in north, when temperatures rise above 5°C. Several males compete for a single female. Eggs are laid in flooded areas and on submerged vegetation over a

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https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111677811-029

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period of 2–5 days. Juvenile survival is negatively related

to biomass of older individuals and positively related

to area of submerged vegetation. Feeds on a variety of

small vertebrates, mainly fish and large invertebrates

such as decapod crustaceans. Cannibalism is common. In

Arctic lakes, there may be only pike in a given body of

water; in such cases, juveniles feed on invertebrates and

terrestrial vertebrates; large individuals are predomi-

nantly cannibals. Other fish avoid areas with pike feces,

which contain alarm pheromones.

Conservation status. LC.

Further reading. Craig 2008 (biology); Casselman et al.

1986 (morphology); Skov & Nilsson 2018 (biology).

Lake Eğirdir and many other endemis hotspots in West Asia are threatened by the invasion of non-native pike.