How many years does the pike live: myths and reality

About pike invented a lot of fables, fairy tales and legends. And this is not surprising. Pike is a famous freshwater predator that can live in any lake, river, pond, small stakes. She does not live only in mountain rivers and in ponds, which completely freeze in winter.

Many people think that she can live 100 years or more. All these are fictions and myths. Like all living things, it has its own time. So how many years does the pike live? The article will tell about it.

Sly and evil

The structure of the body of the pike indicates that it is predatoryand a gluttonous fish. Her body is oblong, compressed at the sides, adapted to rapid and rapid rolls. Hunts from ambush, swiftly and unexpectedly.

Half of the head is taken by the mouth, dotted with sharpteeth, and snout flattened and elongated. Teeth are found on the palatine bones, tongue, and lower jaw. They drop out one by one in a year, and new ones grow in their place. The fish has good eyesight, the structure of the eyes allows it to see from the front, from the side and above itself.

Pike is a cautious and insidious predator. Rarely, what fish can escape from the sharp teeth of this hunter. She fearlessly attacks prey, which is 1/3 of her weight. In addition to fish, it feeds on frogs, lizards, snakes. In a hungry time, he does not disdain his kindred.

Nestlings of waterfowl also fall undersight of the pike. She likes to eat food that is thrown into the river. Swallows pike prey entirely (like a python) and, until it digests it, does not go hunting. An adult pike weighing 10-12 kg is enough to hunt 1-2 times a week.

Already in the 16th and 17th centuries,how many years the pike lives. Fish, it seemed to them, could exist 100, 200 or even more years. How much was invented in this occasion fables! But in reality pike does not live that long. A long-lived among the fish is the catfish, which often celebrates its 100th anniversary.

How does the pike live and how many years does it live?

It would seem that the predator is invulnerable and can easily live more than a dozen years. But not everything is so simple. Pike, like any other fish, is prone to catches, attacks by other predators, such as otters.

Her eggs, which she mows early in the spring, willinglyeat migratory birds. On young pikes attack their relatives, which are larger and stronger. Those pikes that managed to grow up, often fall ill with various diseases or die from a bad ecological situation. Well, how many years does the pike live, motherly and adult?

Weight and age

The body weight and age of this fish are closely interrelated. The older the pike, the heavier it is. The more chances she has to live to her venerable age.

Some sources claim that the pike lives 30and more years. Accordingly, the body weight of a fish of this age will be of the order of 40 kg. This is due to the fact that the first 3 years the mass of the individual reaches only 1 kg. And then every year she adds 1 kg.

Thus, the pike with the age of 4-5 years will beweigh 2-3 kg at a body length of 70-75 cm. Adult specimens aged 10-12 years weigh approximately 12-16 kg. Old pikes that live to 25-30 years weigh 30-40 kg.

River Life

Is there a relationship between the habitat andthe age of the fish? The question of how many years live pike in the river remains relevant and open. If the pond in which the predator lives is rich in food, the environmental indicators are good, it lives well to 20-25 years of age.

Pike, who lived to the age of 30, mostly meetin the rivers of Siberia, the Far East, the Urals. This is explained by the inaccessibility of water bodies compared to the south of the country. Where there is intensive fishing, where poachers trade, the pike does not live to the advanced age.

There is a legend that the King of Germany Friedrichthe young pike was ringing. And in 267 years it was caught by fishermen. It weighed 140 kg at a length of 5.7 m. Similarly, our Tsar Boris Fedorovich pinched the pike, which was caught 100 years later. Its weight was 60 kg, and length - 2.5 m. But this is more of a legend than an answer to the question about how many years a pike lives.

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