Life-history strategies of pike in a high-altitude loch in Scotland

Pike, Esox lucius, are present in Loch Callater at their highest altitude and most extreme habitat in the British Isles, with subarctic winter conditions and extended winter ice-cover. The response of pike in this environment is slower growth, due to a shorter growing season and the low availability...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Treasurer, Jim
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 1998
Subjects:
Online Access:http://aquaticcommons.org/4596/
https://www.fba.org.uk/journals/index.php/FF/article/view/220
http://aquaticcommons.org/4596/1/JTreasurer.pdf
Description
Summary:Pike, Esox lucius, are present in Loch Callater at their highest altitude and most extreme habitat in the British Isles, with subarctic winter conditions and extended winter ice-cover. The response of pike in this environment is slower growth, due to a shorter growing season and the low availability of forage fish, giving the poorest reported length-at-age for pike in the British Isles. All pike were mature or had spawned in the same year, with gravid ovaries in April and normal recovering ovaries in June-July. As in other lochs with few prey fishes, the larger pike ate small items such as invertebrates.