What does the pike eat in its natural habitat

In order to find out what the pike feeds in various habitats, it is worth remembering immediately that it is a predatory fish. Regardless of whether she lives in the river or divorced in a pond, this species does not feed on vegetable protein. In most cases, the catch of a gluttonous predator is the smaller fish that inhabit the pond. This "robber" can also profit amphibians and reptiles, grabs small waterfowl and rodents, does not disdain carrion and garbage.

Features of the view

The pike does not fall into hibernation for the winter, it feeds all year round, although during the cold season the intensity of nutrition is much lower. Individuals who have reached puberty (in three to five years) do not form large flocks. They live either singly or in small homogeneous groups. In females caviar ripens from autumn all winter. They rush her in the early spring. After that, intense zhor begins.

What does the pike eat during this period? Everything that catches your eye: fish, large insects and their larvae, frogs, lizards, rodents, fallen into the water. In addition to good vision, this predator has a sense of smell, so sometimes not only a moving object, but also rotting carrion can grab.

At a length of 70 cm, the weight of an ordinary pike is about two (up to three) kilograms. Record copies reach a size of one and a half meters and can weigh up to 35 kg if they live up to 30 years. According to the structure of the body, the individuals living in the river have a long and narrow body, they are thicker and shorter in the pond.

Although pike is considered a voracious predator, digestion in them is poorly developed. A full "robber" may take several days, or even weeks to digest the swallowed food. At this moment, she indifferently treats any prey from her mouth. The stomach of this predator is very elastic, it can grow at a rate of two times, while its walls become thinner to such an extent that they become translucent.

Feeding young animals

After spawn spawning, the pike covered with glutinous mass is fixed on snags, vegetation and stones. A few days later this substance dissolves, and individual eggs settle to the bottom, where their development lasts from one to two weeks. As a result, larvae appear in the light. In the early days they are adhered to the benthic vegetation by sticky threads and feed on the contents of their yolk sacs. Their length is about 7 mm.

What does the pike feed in this and subsequent periods of growth? When the nutrients end, they begin to feed on small zooplankton: cyclops and daphnia. The size of the larvae in this period is about 1 cm. Having increased in size to 1.5 cm, pike fry can already hunt young carp fish. Although this is rare. Mainly, they become larvae of chiromonids, water donkeys, and podenki. Having reached a size of 5 cm, juvenile pike fish feeds. This process is natural and compulsory, since a growing organism requires energy expenditure, and insect larvae and crustaceans can no longer fill them.

What does a pike eat in nature

The predator's diet directly depends on the habitat and the species of fish that prevail in the pond . In reservoirs and lakes it usually consists of roach, scraper, baster, perch, ruff. In the river, its prey, besides this, can be minnows, gollyans, loaches, bull-calves. In the pond, she, with the exception of the carp, is happy to eat tadpoles and adult frogs, but she will throw the caught toad.

What does the pike feed during the spring and autumn zhory? With a lack of fish, it can snap a waterfowl even when it can not physically swallow it. There are cases when the pike is killed by swallowing too much duck or goose, suffocating from feathers and down.

Mice that have entered the water, rats, moles and other rodents, as well as lizards in the presence of a hungry "robber" nearby, risk paying with their lives, becoming its prey. Smaller individuals can grab worms and leeches. Rotting carrion and "fallen asleep" fish pike will only take in the case when it is especially hungry and can not find a more worthy prey.

Does the pike feed on algae?

This fish has an exceptionally predatory lifestyle, so it simply can not eat vegetarian food. Even when there is absolutely no fish in the pond and there is no way to get other living creatures, it will not feed on algae. It is noticed that up to 20% of the volume of the ration of this predator may be a smaller pike. Cannibalism for this species is a common occurrence. Therefore, the question of what feeds the pike in the pond, when there is absolutely no fish, the answer will be - their fellows.

This feature manifests itself most clearly in the floodplains of rivers, when the water drops after the spill and the reservoir becomes cut off from the main channel. Fish of other species in them quickly ends, and juvenile pike begins to eat each other. In such places the development of the species goes unevenly. Large individuals more than double the young, because it is their food. Pike keeps in such places in very homogeneous groups, to reduce the desire and opportunity to eat each other.

Habitat and hunting features

Pike lives everywhere. Less it is common in mountain rivers, rife with rapids and rapids. In the ponds freezing to the bottom, it does not survive. There are not many pikes in reservoirs, conditions for its spawning in such places are not particularly favorable.

Most often it lives in the coastal zone, often hiding in dense thickets of aquatic vegetation or in the shade of snags. What does the pike eat in this environment and how does it find a sacrifice? With an abundance of food, she displays legibility. In places she does not like carp, she disdains lines and burbot. In the presence of a large number of carp fish, little attention is paid to perch and ruff.

When you see a suitable object for attack, the pike slowly turns to its side, gently working with one or two fins. Then follows a jerk. Its length can be up to several sizes of its body. Pike will not pursue the rapidly disappearing prey. She is the representative of the hunt from ambush, so most often stops the unsuccessful pursuit and returns to her place to wait for another victim.