THE GREAT NORTHERN PICKEREL.
_Esox Lucioides._--This fish is very similar to the mascallonge, so much
so that it is not mentioned in most of the works on American
Ichthyology, being confounded with the latter. The principal differences
in appearance are, that the snout of the pickerel, the under jaw
especially, is shorter and more obtuse than that of the mascallonge, the
light tint of its sides is yellower, and it never attains over
twenty-five pounds. The markings on the sides are somewhat different,
the light, elongated spots of the pickerel, being occasionally replaced
in the mascallonge by dark spots on a greyish ground, and the fin-rays
are not so numerous.
Dorsal 18; Pectoral 16; Ventral 10; Anal 15 and Caudal 24.
Or, according to Professor Agassiz--
D. 21; P. 16; V. 11; A. 16; C. 17.
The principal color is dark grey, lighter on the sides than on the back.
These fish are caught in all the sluggish waters of the North, and on
the same ground and at the same time with the mascallonge, and coincide
with him entirely in habits and disposition. They exhibit the same
ferocity, are allured by the same baits, entrapped in the same manner,
and, in a culinary point of view are, if possible, inferior.