in ichthyology, a genus of fishes belonging to the order of abdominales. The body is elongated; the head is plainish above; the upper jaw is plain, and shorter than the under one, which is dotted; and the branchiostegal membrane has from seven to twelve rays.
1. The Lucius, or Pike, has a flat head: the upper jaw is broad, and shorter than the lower; the under jaw turns up a little at the end, and is marked with minute punctures. The teeth are very sharp, dilated only in the front of the upper jaw, but in both sides of the lower; in the roof of the mouth, and often in the tongue. The slit of the mouth, or the gape, is very wide; the eyes small.
The pike is common in most of the lakes of Europe; but the largest are those taken in Lapland, which, according to Scheffer, are sometimes eight feet long. They are taken there in great abundance, dried, and exported for sale. The largest fish of this kind said to be caught in England, weighed 35 pounds.
All writers who treat of this species bring instances of its voraciousness. It hath been known to choke itself by attempting to swallow one of its own species which proved too large a morsel. Yet its jaws are very loosely connected, and have on each side an additional bone like the jaw of a viper, which renders them capable of greater diffusion when it swallows its prey. It does not confine itself to feed on fish and frogs; it will devour the water-rat, and draw down the young ducks as they are swimming about. But there are instances of its fierceness still more surprising, and which indeed border a little on the marvellous. Gefner relates, that a famished pike in the Rhone, seized on the lips of a mule that was brought to water, and that the beast drew the fish out before it could disengage itself; that people have been bit by these voracious creatures while they were washing their legs; and that the pike will even contend with the otter for its prey, and endeavour to force it out of its mouth.
Small fishes shew the same uncleanliness and detestation at the presence of this tyrant, that the little birds do at the sight of the hawk or owl. When the pike lies dormant near the surface, as is frequently the case, the lesser fishes are often observed to swim around it in vast numbers and in great anxiety. Pikes are often halter- ed in a noose, and taken while they thus lie asleep, as they are often found in the ditches near the Thames, in the month of May.
In the shallow water of the Lincolnshire fens they are often taken in a manner, we believe, peculiar to that country, and to the island of Ceylon. The fisherman makes use of what is called a crown-net; which is no more than a hemispherical basket, open at top and bottom. He stands at the end of one of the little fen-boats, and frequently puts his basket down to the bottom of the water; then poking a stick into it, discovers whether he has any booty by the striking of the fish; and vast numbers of pike are taken in this manner.
The longevity of this fish is very remarkable, if we may credit the accounts given of it. Rzaczynski tells us of one that was 90 years old; but Gelfer relates, that, in the year 1497, a pike was taken near Hallbrunn in Swabia, with a brazen ring affixed to it, on which were these words in Greek characters: "I am the fish which was first put into this lake by the governor of the universe, Frederick the Second, the 5th of October 1230." So that the former must have been an infant to this Methusalem of a fish.
Pikes spawn in March or April, according to the coldness or warmth of the weather. When they are in high season, their colours are very fine, being green, spotted with bright yellow; and the gills are of a most vivid and full red. When out of season, the green changes to a grey, and the yellow spots turn pale.
2. The gar, sometimes grows to the length of three feet or more. The jaws are very long, slender, and sharp-pointed; the under jaw extends much farther than the upper; and the edges of both are armed with numbers of short and slender teeth: the tongue is small; the eyes are large; the irides silvery; the nostrils wide and round. The body is slender, the belly quite flat, bounded on both sides by a rough line. The tail is much forked. The colours are extremely beautiful when the fish is in the water: the back is of a fine green, beneath which appears a rich changeable blue and purple; the sides and belly are of a fine silvery hue. This fish, which is found in many places, is known by the name of the sea-needle. It comes in shoals on our coasts in the beginning of summer, and precedes the mackerel: it has a resemblance to it in taste; but the light green which stains the back bone of this fish gives many people a disgust to it.
3. The saurus, or saury, is 11 inches in length: the nose slender; the jaws produced like those of the sea-needle, but of equal length: the eyes large: the body anguilliform; but towards the tail grows suddenly smaller, and tapers to a very inconsiderable girth. The tail is much forked: the back dusky: the belly bright and silvery. Great numbers of these fish were thrown ashore on the sands of Leith near Edinburgh, after a great storm in November 1768. Rondelius describes this species among the fish of the Mediterranean; but speaks of it as a rare kind.