The PIKE

Is the Lucius Esox of Linnæus. It has a very flat head; the upper jaw is broad, and shorter than the lower, which turns up a little at the end; the body is long, slender, and compressed sideways; the teeth are very sharp, disposed only in the front of the upper jaw, but in both sides of the lower; sometimes in the roof of the mouth, and frequently in the tongue.

The eyes are small, and the slit of the mouth very wide; the dorsal fin is placed very low on the back, and consists of twenty-one rays; the pectoral of fifteen, the ventral of eleven, and the anal, of eighteen; the tail is bifurcated.

They are to be found in most of the lakes in Europe. Lapland produces very large ones, some eight feet long; they are dried there, and exported for sale.

The Pike was introduced into England in the reign of Henry VIII. in 1537, when a Pike was sold for double the price of a house lamb in February. Besides its usual food, fish and frogs, it devours water-rats and young ducks. It is remarkable for its longevity: we read of one that lived till ninety years old, and of another that was no less than two hundred and seventy years old.

Rubellio. The Roach. E. Albin Del: 1739.