Duck kills giant pike
Photos courtesy of Karen Gray
A giant pike met a slippery end when it choked to death on a duck at a Lincolnshire nature reserve.Staff at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust found the 120cm/4' long pike at a gravel pit yesterday and were surprised to find an adult Tufted duck stuck in its throat. The head alone measured nearly 40cm/16" in length.
Karen Gray of Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, who is herself a Practical Fishkeeping reader, told the magazine: "We were actually looking for a reported dead swan at the time and saw a large whitish shape at the far side of the pit.
"Thinking it was the swan that had been reported we made our way over to it. At that point we could see and smell that it was a very big fish.
"It was too slippery to grip with gloves and the teeth were too sharp to pull it in to look at properly, so I grabbed it by the gill covers. It was then that I could see the adult duck wedged right down the back of its throat.
"I suppose all the backward facing teeth in the roof of its mouth prevented it spitting the unlucky duck out."
Gray intends to clean the skull of the pike to show visiting school children. She told Practical Fishkeeping:
"Tomorrow I am going to weigh the pike and take some photos of the duck removed from the pike. I am going to keep the head and try to produce a skull from it. I already have a large pike skull I use as a teaching aid for school children but the head of this pike is easily half as large again."
Pike, Esox lucius, typically eat fish, but may also take ducklings and rarely adult ducks when fish supplies are not plentiful. The slim appearance of this pike suggests it was particularly hungry.
The fish is a member of the Esocidae family, which includes around five species, all of which are members of the genus Esox.
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Matt Clarke: 24.10.2006Views: Read 41,485 times
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Reader comment
Date: Wednesday November 1st, 2006, 7:57 pm
"Nine foot pike....
Some people will believe anything!"
Date: Wednesday November 1st, 2006, 7:57 pm
Reader comment
Date: Monday November 6th, 2006, 2:26 pm
"I've seen the skull in Glasgow's Kelvingrove museum for myself, while the fish probably wasn't 9 foot long the skull measures 12.5 inches.
The head was found where the river Endrick joins Loch Lomond the body was never found.
From the size of the skull the fish was estimated to be between 50 and 70 pounds in weight.
It was a mighty big fish in any case!
"
Date: Monday November 6th, 2006, 2:26 pm
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 | Editor-in-Chief, Matt Clarke, writes the regular Interesting Imports column on rare and unusual fish in the UK aquarium trade. He's kept fish for 30 years and holds a degree, two higher degrees and two diplomas in fish biology, taxonomy and computational biology. |
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"There is a preseved skull of a pike in Glasgow ( Kelvingrove Art Gallery And Museum) that was found on the shores of Loch Lomond and is of a pike that was at least NINE FEET in length. If you don't believe me , go to the Museum and see it for yourself! It really is quite amazing that these fish can reach this size!"
Posted by: Robert Szemis - 3 years agoDate: Friday October 27th, 2006, 2:23 am