Muscle lungs

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Muscle lungs
Muscle lungs (Esox masquinongy)

Muscle lungs ( Esox masquinongy )

Systematics
Overcohort : Clupeocephala
Cohort : Euteleosteomorpha
Order : Pike-like (Esociformes)
Family : Esocidae
Genre : Pike ( Esox )
Type : Muscle lungs
Scientific name
Esox masquinongy
Mitchill , 1824

The Muskellunge ( Esox masquinongy ), often abbreviated as "Musky" or "Muskie", is a predatory fish from the Esocidae family . It occurs naturally in eastern North America in the Saint Lawrence River , Great Lakes , Hudson Bay and upper Mississippi River area , but it has also been introduced into various other bodies of water.

etymology

The name of the fish has nothing to do with muscles or lungs , but derives from its name in the Ojibwa language , maashkinoozhe ("ugly pike" or "big fish"). To this day there are different spellings for fish in Canada and the USA; thus in Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha the variant maskenozha can be found . In terms of folk etymology , the Indian word was associated with the French masque allongé ("long mask").

features

Muscle lungs

With an average length of around one meter and a weight of 10 kilograms and maximum dimensions of 1.83 meters and 32 kilograms, the muscle lung is the largest pike species. The body is elongated and slender. The coloring of the animals is very variable. The basic color is usually light brownish to yellowish green. There are mostly dark drawings on it, which can consist of vertical, straight or twisted stripes or numerous spots. A dark stripe under the eye is always missing. There are also completely unmarked animals. The drawing is particularly rich in contrast in young animals and can almost completely fade in very old animals, the animals then appear silvery.

The upper mouth is large and wide and shaped like a duck's bill. The gap in the mouth extends at least to the rear edge of the eye. In contrast to other pike species, the cheeks and the gill cover are only scaled in the upper area. There are 5 to 10, usually 6 to 9 mandibular and 10 or 11 submandibular pores. The number of Branchiostegal rays is 14 to 16. The lateral line organ has 130 to 176, mostly 145 to 155 scales. The dorsal fin with 15 to 19 soft rays sits far back on the body above the 14 to 16-rayed anal fin . The pectoral fins have 14 to 19 rays, the pelvic fins , which are located about halfway between the pectoral fins and the tail, 11 to 12. The caudal fin has pointed ends.

Subspecies

There are three subspecies in the United States . E. m. masquinongy occurs in the Great Lakes area, E. m. immaculatus in Wisconsin and Minnesota and E. m. ohionensis in the Ohio River area .

habitat

The Muskellunge inhabits medium-sized to large rivers and lakes , ponds and ponds from around 300 square meters in area. They prefer shallow, cool waters with rich vegetation that can serve as cover, but can also be found in other places if there is good prey available.

Way of life

Muscles are loners, true to their location. They usually lurk in hiding in order to quickly advance for possible prey from there. Adult animals mainly feed on larger fish, but occasionally also prey on waterfowl and mammals up to the size of a muskrat . The spawning season is in late spring, usually in early May. The eggs are laid in small rivers in plant-covered pits. A female produces 60,000 to 100,000 eggs, depending on its size, occasionally hybridizing with the pike ( Esox lucius ), which usually spawns earlier . The young grow up quickly. In the first time they mainly feed on zooplankton and small crustaceans, from about a week onwards they begin to prey on small fish. This also includes cannibalism .

Tiger pike

The tiger pike is a sterile cross between the muscle lung and the pike ( Esox lucius ), which occasionally occurs naturally, but is usually produced artificially. Outwardly, tiger pike resemble the muscular lung, but their design consists of numerous thin, partially interrupted stripes that give a tiger-like appearance. Since tiger pike do not reproduce, they are particularly well suited to be used to control the population of smaller fish in fish ponds.

proof

  1. ^ Mark M. Orkin: Speaking Canadian English. An informal account of the English language in Canada . Routledge and Kegan Paul, London 1971, ISBN 0-7100-7004-7 , pp. 202 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Ken Schultz: Ken Schultz's field guide to freshwater fish . John Wiley and Sons, New York NY et al. 2003, ISBN 0-471-44994-6 , pp. 143-146 .
  3. ↑ Fred C. Rohde, Rudolf G. Arndt, Jeffrey W. Foltz: Freshwater Fishes of South Carolina (=  The Belle W. Baruch Library in Marine Science . Volume 22 ). University of South Carolina Press, Columbia SC 2009, ISBN 978-1-57003-680-4 , pp. 243-244 .
  4. ^ A b c Samuel Eddy, James Campbell Underhill: Northern fishes. With special reference to the Upper Mississippi Valley. 3rd edition, revised and expanded. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis MN 1974, ISBN 0-8166-0674-9 , pp. 204-207.
  5. ↑ Steven D. Garber: The Urban Naturalist . Courier Dover Publications, Mineola NY 1998, ISBN 0-486-40399-8 , pp. 106-107 .

Web links

Commons : Muskellunge ( Esox masquinongy )  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files