Annual movement of adult pike (Esox lucius L.) in a lowland river

Abstract

The movement of ten radio-tagged adult pikes (57-113 cm) in the River Gudenå, Denmark, was investigated from September 1998 to September 1999. The movements of pike were characterised by long resident periods in the submergent vegetation, interrupted by short excursions to nearby areas. Two periods with more intense movement were observed; one period during early winter; and one period during spring from mid-March to mid-May. The increased movement during early winter may have been initiated by a slight temperature increase at this time, whereas the increased movement during spring coincided with the spawning of pike. Despite suitable spawning areas nearby the areas where pike resided most of the year, several pike, mainly females, migrated to distant localities during spring.

Pike (Esox lucius L.) on the edge: consistent individual movement patterns in transitional waters of the western Baltic

“…Traditionally, pike has been considered to be mainly stationary with a restricted home range outside of spawning migrations (Craig, 1996). However, there is growing evidence from studies using active telemetry and other methods monitoring individual swimming behaviour that pike movements can be unpredictable and extensive (Jepsen et al, 2001;Koed et al, 2006;Knight et al, 2008;Baktoft et al, 2012). This is supported by the present study, showing that pike in a 5 km 2 large brackish area utilise the entire lagoon both during a year and regularly on shorter time scales (days to months), suggesting larger and more overlapping home ranges than might be expected by a stationary predator.…”

Variation in native micro-predator abundance explains recruitment of a mobile invasive fish, the common carp, in a naturally unstable environment

“…Flooded backwaters would be expected to have fewer predators. Another example is the northern pike, which is highly invasive in western North America and has a life history similar to that of the common carp as it also migrates to shallow peripheral regions to spawn after winterkill (Koed et al 2006). Similarly, invasive salmonids and landlocked sea lamprey migrate into shallow streams to spawn (Potter 1980).…”

“…The common carp (Cyprinus carpio), Asian carps (Hypophthalmichthys sp. ), sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), and northern pike (Esox lucius) are all invasive fish species in which highly fecund adults migrate long distances to disperse their gametes in seasonally-unstable peripheral habitats (Potter 1980;Koed et al 2006;Lohmeyer and Garvey 2009;Bajer and Sorensen 2010). Whether this suite of life history characteristics evolved to reduce exposure to egg and/or larval predators does not appear to have been explicitly considered, nor does the possibility that differences in predator abundance might explain the success of invasive fishes in non-native habitats.…”

Comparative spatial ecology of sympatric adult muskellunge and northern pike during a one-year period in an urban reach of the Rideau River, Canada

“…On the other hand, habitat selection and movement patterns of northern pike have been well studied in both lentic and lotic systems with the findings influenced by the risk of predation by larger conspecifics as well as the factors reported above for muskellunge (Jepsen et al 2001;Kobler et al 2008). In previous studies, the peak activity of northern pike typically occurred in the spring and early winter (Cook and Bergersen 1988;Koed et al 2006;Knight et al 2008;Pauwels et al 2014). One long-term telemetry study found that northern pike lack seasonal core ranges (Cook and Bergersen 1988).…”