Short-snouted pike

Short-snouted pike
	Short- snouted fish ( Lepisosteus platostomus )
Systematics
Subclass :	Bone organoids (holostei)
	Ginglymodes
Order :	Lepisosteiformes
Family :	Bake fish (Lepisosteidae)
Genre :	Lepisosteus
Type :	Short-snouted pike
Scientific name
	Lepisosteus platostomus
	Rafinesque , 1820

The shortnose gar ( Lepisosteus platostomus ) is a species from the family of billfish (Lepisosteidae). The species occurs in the Mississippi River and its tributaries, around Lake Michigan , and on the Gulf Coast in the Calcasieu and Mermentau . In contrast to other bonefish, the species only colonizes freshwater areas.

features

The short-snouted pike, like all pike, has an approximately cylindrical body armored with ganoid scales , jaws lengthened to form a snout, dorsal and anal fin located far back, and pectoral and ventral fins set deep on the body . Its snout is about as long as the rest of the head. The back is dark olive green to gray-brown, the flanks are lighter and the belly whitish. The trunk and the unpaired fins have large, round dark spots. The species differs from the common bone pike ( Lepisosteus osseus ) by the significantly shorter snout, from the spotted bone pike ( Lepisosteus oculatus ) by the lack of spots on the snout, head and the front part of the trunk. They reach a length of about 60 centimeters. The dorsal and anal fin each have seven to nine soft rays. There are 53 to 63 scales along the sidelines.

The maximum documented size was 88 centimeters, the maximum weight 2.6 kg and the maximum age 20 years.

Way of life

Compared to other bake, crustaceans and insects make up a larger share of the prey in the short-snouted bake compared to fish.

The eggs are laid in a gelatinous mass on aquatic plants in spring and early summer. When hatching, the larvae are about 8 mm long. They attach themselves to aquatic plants with a suction cup on the head until the yolk supply is used up. A short time later they begin to take in air on the surface of the water.

Web links

Commons : Short- snouted bake ( Lepisosteus platostomus ) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Lepisosteus platostomus inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Posted by: NatureServe, 2012. Retrieved February 10, 2014.

Individual evidence

^ Günther Sterba: Freshwater fish from all over the world . Urania, Leipzig, Jena, Berlin 1977, pp. 28 .
^ Philip Wayne Smith: The fishes of Illinois . University of Illinois Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-252-07084-6 , pp. 20 .
↑ Short-snouted pike on Fishbase.org (English)
^ John Miller, Henry W. Robison: Fishes of Oklahoma . University of Oklahoma Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-8061-3610-3 , pp. 55-56 .
↑ Jay Stauffer: Fishes of West Virginia . Academy of Natural Sciences, 2007, ISBN 978-1-4223-1783-9 , pp. 37-38 .

[Welt-1] Günther Sterba: Freshwater fish from all over the world . Urania, Leipzig, Jena, Berlin 1977, pp. 28 .

[Illinois-2] Philip Wayne Smith: The fishes of Illinois . University of Illinois Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-252-07084-6 , pp. 20 .

[3] Short-snouted pike on Fishbase.org (English)

[4] John Miller, Henry W. Robison: Fishes of Oklahoma . University of Oklahoma Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-8061-3610-3 , pp. 55-56 .

[5] Jay Stauffer: Fishes of West Virginia . Academy of Natural Sciences, 2007, ISBN 978-1-4223-1783-9 , pp. 37-38 .