It may reach up to 78.7 centimetres (31.0 in) long only on rare occasions. Unlike northern pike, however, the opercles and cheeks of chain pickerel are entirely scaled. Its body outline resembles that of the northern pike ( E. americanus vermiculatus), in which the mark curves posteriorly. There is a vertical dark marking underneath the eye, which helps to distinguish the chain pickerel from redfin pickerel ( Esox americanus americanus) and grass pickerel ( E. The chain pickerel has a distinctive, dark, chain-like pattern on its greenish sides. In central Florida the chain pickerel is known locally as 'Gatorfish' Description Nicknames include the 'southern pike', 'grass pike', 'jack', 'jackfish', 'gunny' and 'eastern pickerel'. Its species name is the Latin word niger 'black'. Taxonomy įrench naturalist Charles Alexandre Lesueur described the chain pickerel in 1818. americanus) belong to the Esox genus of pike.

The chain pickerel and the American pickerel ( E. The chain pickerel ( Esox niger) is a species of freshwater fish in the pike family (family Esocidae) of order Esociformes.

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