THE BLUE PIKE
(Stizostedion vitreum glaucum): EXTINCT
?
The
blue pike was an endemic fish of the Great Lakes
region in the United States and Canada. It was
once commonly found in the waters of Lake Erie,
Lake Ontario, and the Niagara River. It
preferred cool, clear waters, living in deep
water in summer, and switching to nearshore
waters as they cooled and became less murky in
the winter.
The blue pike was pursued
intensely by commercial and sport fishers, who
together landed a billion pounds of the fish
between 1885 and 1962. At times, the blue pike
made up more than 50 percent of the commercial
catch in Lake Erie.
At the same time the
fishing industry was growing in the Great Lakes,
the number of Euroamerican settlers in the
region was increasing as well. With the
increasing human population came increased
habitat degradation.
The
settlers drained marshes and wetlands, built
dams in tributary rivers, and caused large
increases in the amount of pollution and
sediment that entered the lakes.
All
of these actions contributed to the
deterioration of the cool, clear habitat needed
by the blue pike.
During the 1900s, several non-native
species of fish were introduced to the Great
Lakes, including the sea lamprey,
alewife, and rainbow smelt. These contributed to
the decline of the blue pike through predation
and competition.
The population crashed
in 1958, but the species lingered on until it
became extinct in 1970. In the same general time
period, three other species of fish endemic to
the Great Lakes also disappeared. These were the
deepwater cisco (C. johannae) in the 1950's,
native to Lake Huron and Lake Michigan; the
blackfin cisco (Coregonus nigripinnis) in the
1960s, native to all of the Lakes except Erie;
and the longjaw cisco (C. alpenae) in the
1970's, native to Lakes Erie, Huron and
Michigan.
Each
of these species succumbed to the cumulative
effects of overexploitation by fishers,
pollution, siltation and other forms of habitat
degradation due to development, and predation
and
competition from non-native
species.
Still
today , there remains conflicting stories
about its demise. Fishermen report catching
Blue
Colored Pike in lakes in Canada
and Minnesota. Rumours have for years
abounded
about the Blue Pike translocated by
private individuals and goverment stocking
programs outside their Great Lakes homes and
still carrying on. Could it be true
?
Suspect Pike Specimens have been turned
into the USFWS for genetic research. The Jury is
still out. They DNA tests have begun. If the
Blue Pike is out there we want to know !
