Observations on the Life History of the Northern Pike, Esox Lucius L., in Houghton Lake, Michigan
- 1 January 1942
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
- Vol. 71 (1) , 149-164
- https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8659(1941)71[149:ootlho]2.0.co;2
Abstract
Male northern pike made up 65 per cent of the 378 adults taken in the upstream weir of the ditches tributary to the north bay of Houghton Lake in April, 1939. An estimated additional 50 fish moved upstream before the weir was installed. The males averaged 21.2 inches, total length, while the females averaged 23.5 inches. In 1940, 58 per cent of the 118 adults were males. Twenty‐eight additional spawners (13 males and 15 females) captured outside the experimental area were later added to the 118 fish. The males of the 1940 run averaged 19.8 inches in total length as compared with 23.2 inches for the females. Most of the spawners appeared in the weir between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. The average number of days that the adult northern pike spent in the ditches in 1939 was 18.25 (range of 6 to 50 days). In 1940 the average number of days spent in the ditches was 23.9 days (range of 4 to 90 days). The numbers of young northern pike (aside from an insignificant few that were preserved) that entered the downstream weir from the spawning grounds to Houghton Lake were: 1939–7,239; 1940–1,495. These young were the offspring of 125 potential female spawners in 1939, and of 65 in 1940. The average length of the young increased at a rate of at least 1.8 millimeters per day during the 82 days after the first hatch was observed in 1939, and at least 1.3 millimeters per day during the first 85 days after the first hatch was observed in 1940.This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: