Tuesday, March 5, 2019

#0360 "Northern Pike"

The northern pike is a top predator in the fish food chain. The main threat to northern pike aside from fishing is a habitat loss which is the common threat to all freshwater fish. Human development in the Great Lakes region has really taken its toll on northern pike populations depriving pike of critical wetland habitat. The creation of the St Lawrence Seaway while good for commerce has opened the gates wide for invasive species of which 186 now call the river home. The water levels are now managed and tens of thousands of acres of wetlands have been significantly damaged. Oil spills and garbage from the ships tis an ongoing problem. Restoration of native pike habitat is a important goal throughout its global range. The fishing is not the same and no match for what I enjoyed as a kid just 50 years ago fishing on the St Lawrence.

Now for some science. Pike are an ancient Holarctic family represented by the single genus Esox with five species within that genus. The northern pike has an alligator-like jaw with five sensory pores on each side of the lower jaw. The body and most of the head are covered with small cycloid scales. The basic body colour of adult pike is green to brown on the dorsal surface with lighter flanks bearing whitish spots. The body is covered by thousands of tiny gold spots with one spot on the edge of each scale. The large eyes are yellow and highly mobile. All of these features of camouflage, posteriorly-placed fins, abundant teeth and the large eyes are perfect adaptations of a lurking predator. The distribution of northern pike circumvents the northern hemisphere and is the widest of all species in the genus. Recent genetic analyses confirm the hypothesis that pike originated in North America and subsequently found their way to Eurasia over the Bering Land Bridge.

Northern pike may live as long as 30 years in the wild although in recent samples only 40% of pike populations have individuals older than 7 years. Females live longer, grow faster, and are bigger than males. Anglers tend to take more females than males since females are more active and susceptible in summer. Northern pike spawn in spring just after the ice melts. The fish leave the lakes when the water has warmed to 8-12ÂșC and migrate up tributaries to flooded marshes or shallow pools where grasses and sedges serve for cover and egg deposition.

The large black walnut tree was on the front yard of my friend Jack Brydon on Church Street in Schomberg. Jack and I were great friends and did a lot of wood working together. I carved several paddles in his shop while listening to Jack tell stories. Anyway Jack cut the black walnut stem into slabs. We sanded those slabs which I then sealed. I painted the shape of the fish with a couple of goats of titanium gesso in order to make the fish jump off the dark grain of the wood.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you!
 For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you!

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