Esox
Encyclopedia
Esox is a genus
of freshwater fish
, the only living genus in the family
Esocidae — the esocids which were endemic to North America
, Europe
and Eurasia
during the Paleogene
through present.
The type species
is E. lucius, the northern pike
. The species of this genus are known as pike and pickerel, and in heraldry
they are usually called lucy.
The big pike species are native to the Palearctic
and Nearctic
ecozone
s, ranging across northern North America
and from Western Europe
to Siberia
in Eurasia
. They have been found in many urban lakes in Western Europe, reported to be in the Rostrum (Lucerne
) and the Serpentine
, (London
).
Pike can grow to a maximum recorded length of 1.83 metres (6 ft), reaching a maximum recorded weight of 35 kilograms (77.2 lb). The UK record pike of 21 kilograms (46.3 lb) was caught on a Creek Chub Pikie lure by Roy Lewis at Llandegfedd Reservoir
in Wales
in 1992. Individuals have been reported to reach 30 years in age. All pike over 5 kilograms (11 lb) in body weight are females. They have the elongated, torpedo-like form of predatory fishes, with sharply-pointed heads and sharp teeth. Their coloration is typically grey-green with a mottled or spotted appearance with stripes along their back, perfectly camouflaged among weeds. Individual pike marking patterns are unique, like fingerprints.
ίσοξ (a kind of fish), itself a word of Celtic
origin related to the Welsh
eog and Irish Gaelic
iach (salmon
). Pliny
uses the Latin
form esox in reference to a large fish in the Rhine normally identified with lax (salmon). It is likely that Carolus Linnaeus's application of Esox to the pike is thus a misnomer.
The English
common name "pike" is an apparent shortening of "pike-fish", in reference to its pointed head, Old English
píc originally referring to a pickaxe
. The plural of pike is pike.
A northern English and Lowland Scots
name for the pike, ged, similarly derives from Old Norse gaddr (spike) (cf. the modern Swedish
name for the pike, gädda, the Danish "gedde", the Norwegian "gjedde" and Scottish Gaelic: geadais). The Dutch
name for the pike (snoek) has been given to a wide variety of fish reminding sailors of the pike (see snoek
, snook
).
The English "pike" originally referred specifically to the adult fish, the diminutive form "pickerel" (now used to name some of the smaller pike, E. americanus and E. niger) referring to the young. The walleye
(Sander vitreus) is sometimes called a pickerel by Gerard, but it is unrelated to the pike, being a member of the perch family (family Percidae
). Pike are not to be confused with the unrelated pikeminnows (traditionally, and perhaps better, known as squawfish) of genus Ptychocheilus
(family Cyprinidae) or pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) which is more akin to walleye than to pike. Pike are also called "Jackfish" in North America and informally "Slough Shark" in Western Canada.
Pike feed on a wide range of food sources, predominantly smaller shoal fish. Pike are also cannibalistic, sometimes preying upon smaller members of their own species.
They will also prey on insect
s and amphibian
s such as newt
s or frog
s in times when their usual food is scarce, and occasionally on small mammal
s like moles
or mice
when caught water-borne. Small birds such as ducklings may become a target for hungry pike. Pike are also known to prey on swimming snake
s.
They are, however, undeserving of their reputation for being overly vicious predators. There are few substantiated incidents of pike 'attacks' on people. Pike's further reputation as a pest seems to lie predominately amongst anglers who seek more desirable species.
Effective methods for catching this hard-fighting fish include dead baits, live baits, and lure fishing. Pike can easily be damaged when handled since they are not as robust as their reputation would suggest. Colour of lure can be influenced by water clarity and weather conditions. Since pike have numerous sharp teeth it is wise to take extreme care when unhooking them. The use of a wet leather gauntlet and surgical forceps to remove hooks is highly recommended on safety grounds. If practising catch and release fishing, care for the pike should be the pike angler's utmost concern. The formerly recommended practice of grasping a pike by its eye sockets (tragically interpreted as "its eyes") resulted in countless released pike that quickly died from inability to see prey any longer.
The current recommended method of grasping pike is to close the hand firmly over the gill covers, and to make the period of handling as short as possible before release. Grabbing a pike by the gill covers is not feasible when a pike is very big, but it is easy to handle a pike by inserting the fingers at the bottom of the gill opening and grabbing the lower jaw. Big pike should also be supported at the belly. When a pike is held this way it is also easier to keep the mouth open to remove a hook. Many anglers now use special grips to grab the pike's front lower jaw, which can add to the safety of an anglers because of the danger imposed by the hooks of the lure or tackle and the pike's teeth. The Pike Anglers Club was formed in 1977 to campaign for the preservation of pike and the sport of pike fishing.
A practice known as gut hooking was previously widely used in catching pike. Upon taking the bait, the pike will hold it for a short time in its mouth as it moves off. The pike will then, usually, turn the bait in its mouth, so that it sits in alignment with its throat to ease swallowing. It is recommended that when pike fishing the process is not allowed to go this far and a strike is recommended as soon as a bite is indicated. For this it is necessary to attach hooks on the head side as well as the middle of the baitfish. Otherwise, what is known as gut hooking will result, which will normally kill or seriously injure the fish. Dutch research shows that cutting the line immediately when the fish is gut hooked will still give low mortality (14%). The hooks in the gut or stomach were either encapsulated or removed from the body.
Other methods of catching and handing pike that are now frowned upon are the gaff and the gag. The gaff is a metal hook on the end of a pole used to hook through the fish's body in place of a more humane landing net. A gag is a device for holding open the pike's mouth whilst unhooking. These are now illegal in Scotland, as they put a huge amount of pressure on a pike's jaw, thus causing irreparable damage.
Catching a 10 kg pike, kymppihauki (Finnish for "ten pike"), is considered as "earning one's spurs" as a fisherman in Finland.
.jpg)
In the Finnish Kalevala
, Väinämöinen
creates a kantele
(string instrument) from the jawbone of the pike.
Russian mythology holds that the pike is one of several forms assumed by evil water spirits called vodyanoy, and a ravenous mythical pike is traditionally blamed for decimating the fish population in the Sheksna River
. Russian fairy tales, on the other hand, also tell about an old wise pike that can fulfil wishes of the one who catches it, if its catcher releases it back into its habitat.
In the beginning of Boris and Arkady Strugatsky's book, Monday Begins on Saturday
, a wise centuries-old pike appears in the story when main character Sasha arrives at Baba Yaga
's house in Solovets.
In the 10th episode of Monarch of the Glen series 3, Hector MacDonald fights a pike that has infiltrated his loch and has eaten all the fish.
In the book Redwall, Cluny the Scourge has only one eye, the other having been lost to a pike who was then killed by Cluny.
s, active during the Second World War, is derived from "Shchuka" - Russian
for "pike".
Two United States Navy
submarine
s have been named Pike, SS-6
of 1903 and SS-173
of 1935, and three, SS-22
of 1912, SS-177
of 1936, and SS-524
of 1944, named Pickerel. In addition, the Soviet
submarines known to NATO as the Victor III class
were called the Shchuka (Щука, "pike") class, in Russian
. The Soviet Iosif Stalin tank (IS-3)
was also nicknamed Shchuka, in reference to its sharply pointed hull front.
In heraldry
, the pike is called a lucy. It is usually blazon
ed either naiant (swimming), embowed (bowed) or hauriant (jumping), though pairs of lucies may appear addorsed (back to back), as in the arms of the Finnish town of Uusikaupunki
, Finland
. (Argent, two lucies addorsed azure).
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of freshwater fish
Freshwater fish
Freshwater fish are fish that spend some or all of their lives in freshwater, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 0.05%. These environments differ from marine conditions in many ways, the most obvious being the difference in levels of salinity...
, the only living genus in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Esocidae — the esocids which were endemic to North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
during the Paleogene
Paleogene
The Paleogene is a geologic period and system that began 65.5 ± 0.3 and ended 23.03 ± 0.05 million years ago and comprises the first part of the Cenozoic Era...
through present.
The type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
is E. lucius, the northern pike
Northern Pike
The northern pike , is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox...
. The species of this genus are known as pike and pickerel, and in heraldry
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
they are usually called lucy.
The big pike species are native to the Palearctic
Palearctic
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is one of the eight ecozones dividing the Earth's surface.Physically, the Palearctic is the largest ecozone...
and Nearctic
Nearctic
The Nearctic is one of the eight terrestrial ecozones dividing the Earth's land surface.The Nearctic ecozone covers most of North America, including Greenland and the highlands of Mexico...
ecozone
Ecozone
An ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of the Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms.Ecozones delineate large areas of the Earth's surface within which organisms have been evolving in relative isolation over long periods of time, separated from...
s, ranging across northern North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and from Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
in Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
. They have been found in many urban lakes in Western Europe, reported to be in the Rostrum (Lucerne
Lucerne
Lucerne is a city in north-central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of that country. Lucerne is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and the capital of the district of the same name. With a population of about 76,200 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and...
) and the Serpentine
Serpentine (lake)
The Serpentine is a 28-acre recreational lake in Hyde Park, London, England, created in 1730. Although it is common to refer to the entire body of water as the Serpentine, strictly the name refers only to the eastern half of the lake...
, (London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
).
Pike can grow to a maximum recorded length of 1.83 metres (6 ft), reaching a maximum recorded weight of 35 kilograms (77.2 lb). The UK record pike of 21 kilograms (46.3 lb) was caught on a Creek Chub Pikie lure by Roy Lewis at Llandegfedd Reservoir
Llandegfedd Reservoir
Llandegfedd Reservoir is a large 174 hectare water supply reservoir and is eight miles north of Newport in south Wales. The reservoir is very close to Pontypool, Cwmbran and Usk.-History:...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
in 1992. Individuals have been reported to reach 30 years in age. All pike over 5 kilograms (11 lb) in body weight are females. They have the elongated, torpedo-like form of predatory fishes, with sharply-pointed heads and sharp teeth. Their coloration is typically grey-green with a mottled or spotted appearance with stripes along their back, perfectly camouflaged among weeds. Individual pike marking patterns are unique, like fingerprints.
Name
The generic name Esox (pike fish) derives from the GreekGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
ίσοξ (a kind of fish), itself a word of Celtic
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
origin related to the Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
eog and Irish Gaelic
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
iach (salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
). Pliny
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
uses the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
form esox in reference to a large fish in the Rhine normally identified with lax (salmon). It is likely that Carolus Linnaeus's application of Esox to the pike is thus a misnomer.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
common name "pike" is an apparent shortening of "pike-fish", in reference to its pointed head, Old English
Old English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
píc originally referring to a pickaxe
Pickaxe
A pickaxe or pick is a hand tool with a hard head attached perpendicular to the handle.Some people make the distinction that a pickaxe has a head with a pointed end and a flat end, and a pick has both ends pointed, or only one end; but most people use the words to mean the same thing.The head is...
. The plural of pike is pike.
A northern English and Lowland Scots
Scots language
Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
name for the pike, ged, similarly derives from Old Norse gaddr (spike) (cf. the modern Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
name for the pike, gädda, the Danish "gedde", the Norwegian "gjedde" and Scottish Gaelic: geadais). The Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
name for the pike (snoek) has been given to a wide variety of fish reminding sailors of the pike (see snoek
Snoek
-People with the surname Snoek:*Hendrik Snoek - Belgian show jumper*Paul Snoek - Belgian poetSnoek or Snook is used in various forms as the common name for several species of fish...
, snook
Snook
Snook or Snoek may refer to:* Fish in the family** Centropomidae especially the common snook.** Gempylidae ** Percidae ** Scombridae , subfamily: Scombrinae** Sphyraenidae...
).
The English "pike" originally referred specifically to the adult fish, the diminutive form "pickerel" (now used to name some of the smaller pike, E. americanus and E. niger) referring to the young. The walleye
Walleye
Walleye is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European pikeperch...
(Sander vitreus) is sometimes called a pickerel by Gerard, but it is unrelated to the pike, being a member of the perch family (family Percidae
Percidae
The Percidae are a family of perciform fish found in fresh and brackish waters of the Northern Hemisphere. The family contains about 200 species in ten genera...
). Pike are not to be confused with the unrelated pikeminnows (traditionally, and perhaps better, known as squawfish) of genus Ptychocheilus
Ptychocheilus
Squawfish or pikeminnows are cyprinid fish of the genus Ptychocheilus consisting of four species native to western North America. Voracious predators, they are considered an "undesirable" species in many waters. This is largely due to the species' perceived tendency to prey upon small trout and...
(family Cyprinidae) or pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) which is more akin to walleye than to pike. Pike are also called "Jackfish" in North America and informally "Slough Shark" in Western Canada.
Diet
They will also prey on insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s and amphibian
Amphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
s such as newt
Newt
A newt is an aquatic amphibian of the family Salamandridae, although not all aquatic salamanders are considered newts. Newts are classified in the subfamily Pleurodelinae of the family Salamandridae, and are found in North America, Europe and Asia...
s or frog
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
s in times when their usual food is scarce, and occasionally on small mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s like moles
Mole (animal)
Moles are small cylindrical mammals adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They have velvety fur; tiny or invisible ears and eyes; and short, powerful limbs with large paws oriented for digging. The term is especially and most properly used for the true moles, those of the Talpidae family in the...
or mice
Mouse
A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
when caught water-borne. Small birds such as ducklings may become a target for hungry pike. Pike are also known to prey on swimming snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s.
They are, however, undeserving of their reputation for being overly vicious predators. There are few substantiated incidents of pike 'attacks' on people. Pike's further reputation as a pest seems to lie predominately amongst anglers who seek more desirable species.
Angling
The current recommended method of grasping pike is to close the hand firmly over the gill covers, and to make the period of handling as short as possible before release. Grabbing a pike by the gill covers is not feasible when a pike is very big, but it is easy to handle a pike by inserting the fingers at the bottom of the gill opening and grabbing the lower jaw. Big pike should also be supported at the belly. When a pike is held this way it is also easier to keep the mouth open to remove a hook. Many anglers now use special grips to grab the pike's front lower jaw, which can add to the safety of an anglers because of the danger imposed by the hooks of the lure or tackle and the pike's teeth. The Pike Anglers Club was formed in 1977 to campaign for the preservation of pike and the sport of pike fishing.
A practice known as gut hooking was previously widely used in catching pike. Upon taking the bait, the pike will hold it for a short time in its mouth as it moves off. The pike will then, usually, turn the bait in its mouth, so that it sits in alignment with its throat to ease swallowing. It is recommended that when pike fishing the process is not allowed to go this far and a strike is recommended as soon as a bite is indicated. For this it is necessary to attach hooks on the head side as well as the middle of the baitfish. Otherwise, what is known as gut hooking will result, which will normally kill or seriously injure the fish. Dutch research shows that cutting the line immediately when the fish is gut hooked will still give low mortality (14%). The hooks in the gut or stomach were either encapsulated or removed from the body.
Other methods of catching and handing pike that are now frowned upon are the gaff and the gag. The gaff is a metal hook on the end of a pole used to hook through the fish's body in place of a more humane landing net. A gag is a device for holding open the pike's mouth whilst unhooking. These are now illegal in Scotland, as they put a huge amount of pressure on a pike's jaw, thus causing irreparable damage.
Catching a 10 kg pike, kymppihauki (Finnish for "ten pike"), is considered as "earning one's spurs" as a fisherman in Finland.
In mythology and literature
Kalevala
The Kalevala is a 19th century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology.It is regarded as the national epic of Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature...
, Väinämöinen
Väinämöinen
Väinämöinen is the central character in the Finnish folklore and the main character in the national epic Kalevala. His name comes from the Finnish word väinämö, meaning minstrel. Originally a Finnish god, he was described as an old and wise man, and he possessed a potent, magical...
creates a kantele
Kantele
A kantele or kannel is a traditional plucked string instrument of the zither family native to Finland, Estonia, and Karelia. It is related to the Russian gusli, the Latvian kokle and the Lithuanian kanklės. Together these instruments make up the family known as Baltic psalteries...
(string instrument) from the jawbone of the pike.
Russian mythology holds that the pike is one of several forms assumed by evil water spirits called vodyanoy, and a ravenous mythical pike is traditionally blamed for decimating the fish population in the Sheksna River
Sheksna River
The Sheksna is a river in Belozersky, Kirillovsky, Sheksninsky, and Cherepovetsky Districts of Vologda Oblast in Russia. It is a left tributary of the Volga River. It is long, and the area of its basin...
. Russian fairy tales, on the other hand, also tell about an old wise pike that can fulfil wishes of the one who catches it, if its catcher releases it back into its habitat.
In the beginning of Boris and Arkady Strugatsky's book, Monday Begins on Saturday
Monday Begins on Saturday
Monday Begins on Saturday is a 1964 science fiction / science fantasy novel by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. Set in a fictional town in northern Russia, where highly classified research in magic occurs, the novel is a satire of Soviet scientific research institutes, complete with an inept...
, a wise centuries-old pike appears in the story when main character Sasha arrives at Baba Yaga
Baba Yaga
Baba Yaga or Baba Roga is a haggish or witchlike character in Slavic folklore. She flies around on a giant pestle, kidnaps small children, and lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs...
's house in Solovets.
In the 10th episode of Monarch of the Glen series 3, Hector MacDonald fights a pike that has infiltrated his loch and has eaten all the fish.
In the book Redwall, Cluny the Scourge has only one eye, the other having been lost to a pike who was then killed by Cluny.
Submarines and tanks
The name of the Soviet Shchuka class submarineShchuka class submarine
The Shchuka class submarines , also referred to as Shch or SC class submarines were a medium-sized class of Soviet submarines, built in large numbers and used during World War II...
s, active during the Second World War, is derived from "Shchuka" - Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
for "pike".
Two United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s have been named Pike, SS-6
USS Pike (SS-6)
The first USS Pike was a in the service of the United States Navy, later renamed as A-5.She was laid down on 10 December 1900 at San Francisco, California by Union Iron Works, launched on 14 January 1903, and commissioned on 28 May 1903 at the Mare Island Navy Yard with Lieutenant Arthur...
of 1903 and SS-173
USS Pike (SS-173)
USS Pike was laid down on 20 December 1933 by Portsmouth Navy Yard, in Kittery, Maine; launched on 12 September 1935; sponsored by Miss Jane Logan Snyder; and commissioned on 2 December 1935, Lieutenant Heber H. "Tex" McLean in command. Pike was the first all-welded submarine...
of 1935, and three, SS-22
USS F-3 (SS-22)
USS F-3 , was a F-class submarine. She was named Pickerel when her keel was laid down by the Moran Brothers Company of Seattle, Washington, making her the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the pickerel, a type of pike. She was renamed F-3 on 17 November 1911, launched on 6...
of 1912, SS-177
USS Pickerel (SS-177)
USS Pickerel , a Porpoise-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the pickerel, a young or small pike....
of 1936, and SS-524
USS Pickerel (SS-524)
USS Pickerel , a Tench-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for a young or small pike. The contract to build her was awarded to the Boston Naval Shipyard and her keel was laid down on 8 February 1944. She was launched without a christening ceremony on 15...
of 1944, named Pickerel. In addition, the Soviet
Soviet Navy
The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...
submarines known to NATO as the Victor III class
Victor class submarine
The Victor class is the NATO reporting name for a type of nuclear-powered submarine that was originally put into service by the Soviet Union around 1967. In the USSR, they were produced as Project 671. Victor-class subs featured a teardrop shape, which allowed them to travel at high speed...
were called the Shchuka (Щука, "pike") class, in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
. The Soviet Iosif Stalin tank (IS-3)
Iosif Stalin tank
The Iosif Stalin tank , was a heavy tank developed by the Soviet Union during World War II and first used in the Kursk area in September 1943...
was also nicknamed Shchuka, in reference to its sharply pointed hull front.
Heraldry
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
, the pike is called a lucy. It is usually blazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
ed either naiant (swimming), embowed (bowed) or hauriant (jumping), though pairs of lucies may appear addorsed (back to back), as in the arms of the Finnish town of Uusikaupunki
Uusikaupunki
Uusikaupunki , is a town and municipality of Finland.It is located in the Finland Proper region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is inland water. The population density is .The municipality is unilingually Finnish...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. (Argent, two lucies addorsed azure).
Further reading
- Oxford English DictionaryOxford English DictionaryThe Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
, s.vv. "Esox", "Ged1", and "Pike, n.4". - Pike in Your Waters, the Pike Anglers Club, pub 2003
- Pike Preservation - Fishing Equipment, Pike Fishing Scotland
- Float Tube Fishing In Ireland Pike Fishing from a Float Tube
- Pike Fishing in Denmark Coarse Fishing in Denmark
- Pike Fishing in Scotland Coarse Fishing in the Highlands
- River Swimming Water Safety mentions Pike attack as a risk of open water swimmingOpen water swimmingOpen water swimming takes place in outdoor bodies of water such as open oceans, bays, lakes, rivers, canals, and reservoirs.The beginning of the modern age of open water swimming is sometimes taken to be May 3, 1810, when Lord Byron swam several miles to cross the Hellespont from Europe to Asia.In...
. Accessed on 21 October 2007