What does a pike eat: what does it eat, how and who does it hunt?

Is there a fisherman who would not like to catch a pike? Surely there is no such thing. This fish is a bright representative of freshwater reservoirs, which every fishing fan dreams of getting. How many people know that thanks to a strong body, jaws and good eyesight, pike eats almost everything. The variety of food of this predator is amazing, which will be discussed in this article.

What does a pike eat in a pond

Pike lives mainly in lakes and rivers. For her, rivers with a small current, flowing lakes, where there are bays, thickets of reeds, and algae are preferable. This fish avoids rocky, cold and fast-flowing rivers. It can also be found in swamps, as it tolerates acidified waters, but in such reservoirs in winter it can easily die due to lack of oxygen.

The pike stands out among the rest of the fish with its voracity, although at first glance it looks rather thin, “puny”. Not everyone knows that she is practically omnivorous and does not hibernate, but continues to eat all year round.

When pike larvae are still very small (about 7 mm), they feed on the contents of their yolk sacs. As soon as the contents of the bags are over, the fry begin to feed on small zooplankton, invertebrates and fish larvae. The basis of the diet of pike fry already grown up to 5 cm is chironomids. Then they begin to feed on fish, as growing organisms need energy, and the larvae are no longer enough. The predator eats any fish that lives in the reservoir, often its fellows become its prey. Very often, it is the pike that is used in the role of the “orderly fish”, where there is an overabundance of weed fish.

Photo: Pike food chain in fresh waters

Pike does not feed on plant foods in the pond.

What does pike eat

The basis of the pike diet is low-value, but numerous species of fish that live in a particular reservoir, and narrow-bodied fish species are preferable for a predator. Species such as silver bream, bream or sopa – very rarely fall into her mouth. By the way, it was noticed that in those reservoirs where the “toothy robber” is found, crucian carp grow more round than where it does not live.

What kind of fish do pike eat

Pike feeds mainly on the following types of fish:

• bleak;
• roach;
• carp;
• rudd;
• scumbag,
• chub;
• sandblaster
• rotan;
• dace;
• minnow;
• crucian carp;
• sculpin
• mustachioed char.

Spiny-finned fish, such as perch, ruff, attract the predator less, she eats them with caution – she tightly squeezes the prey with powerful jaws until it stops escaping.

Does pike eat pike

Pike are cannibalistic. It manifests itself not only in large individuals (more than 10 cm long), but also in squinting. With a lack of food, they easily eat their smaller counterparts. This feature explains the fact that usually the pond is inhabited by pikes of the same size, they eat their smaller counterparts.

In Alaska and the Kola Peninsula there are so-called pike lakes, where only pike is found. So there the predator lives solely due to cannibalism: first it eats caviar, and then large individuals eat those who are smaller.

What else does she eat?

The pike diet can include not only fish of different species, but also other types of animals:

• mice;
• frogs;
• proteins;
• rats;
• crayfish;
• waterfowl, including ducklings;
• reptiles.

But she eats carrion or sleeping fish very rarely, only if she is very hungry.

How and when pike hunts

Most often, pike live and hunt alone. Occasionally, they can form groups of several individuals.

Pike hunts mainly in two ways:

1. With sneaking from an ambush.
2. In pursuit.

In reservoirs where there is enough vegetation, there are snags, stones, coastal bushes, overhanging banks, the pike motionlessly waits for the victim in ambush and rushes at it with lightning speed when it swims nearby. Where there is little vegetation, she hunts in pursuit, and the predator can pursue the victim not only in water, but also in the air, making jumps of amazing beauty.

Photo: What a pike looks like while hunting in a snag

Hunting in any way falls on periods of more intensive feeding: autumn, when fish massively move into deeper warm waters, and spring, during the spawning period of fish. In the cold months, ambush hunting becomes difficult, as the vegetation is significantly reduced – the plants settle to the bottom.

In winter, pike eat less willingly and no longer live as secluded as usual, although it is believed that this fish is not schooling. An important role in a successful hunt is played by the temperature of the water – with its decrease, the predator becomes lethargic.

The pike grabs its prey at random, but it swallows it exclusively from the head. If the caught prey is quite large, the predator keeps it in its mouth until the swallowed part is digested. Large pikes swallow their prey whole.

Her digestion is poorly developed. Thanks to the elastic stomach of the pike, which can double in size, it stuffs it chock-full, and then it can digest the swallowed food for more than one day, but even for weeks. Over time, the walls of the stomach become translucent. There have been cases when pike grabbed fish twice as large as itself.

How many times a day does a pike eat

In summer, an adult pike eats, as a rule, 2 times a day:

What time does the pike hunt

1. In the morning from 2 to 5 o’clock.
2. In the evening from 17 to 18.

The rest of the day the pike is not so active. Day and night, the predator mostly rests, digesting what it has swallowed.

Pike is a very significant fish not only in nature, but also in human life. It is she who does not allow overpopulation of reservoirs by various species of fish. In addition, by eating other representatives of the animal world, the predator ensures the ecological balance in nature. On the other hand, many animals also feed on pike. Mammals prey on adults, such as otters and minks, birds from the order of prey – eagles, ospreys and others. Fry and young pike are eaten by invertebrates living in the water – dragonfly larvae, swimming beetles, water bugs, fish – perches, catfish and others.

A person uses this fish as a food product, as well as an object of amateur and sport fishing.

Video: how a pike hunts under water

Now you can safely say that you are familiar with the pike’s extensive diet and the characteristics of its hunting. You know that she eats not only fish, but also other animals, and also that her food can consist of her own kind. It will be just great if the knowledge gained will help you in catching this predatory trophy.