Esox lucius
Linnaeus, 1758 · speciesAt a glance
Sources13 archives
Databases and archives Esox lucius's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation17 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility679 287 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System5 141 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI887 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics270 specimens↗
FooDBThe Metabolomics Innovation Centrecompounds↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The northern pike (Esox lucius) is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox (the pikes). They are typical of brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (i.e. holarctic in distribution). They are known simply as a pike in Britain, Ireland, and most of Eastern Europe, Canada and the United States. Pike can grow to a relatively large size: the average length is about 40 –, with maximum recorded lengths of up to 150 cm and published weights of 28.4 kg. The IGFA currently recognizes a 25 kg pike caught by Lothar Louis on Greffern Lake, Germany, on 16 October 1986, as the all-tackle world-record northern pike. Northern pike grow to larger sizes in Eurasia than in North America, and typically grow to larger sizes in coastal than inland regions of Eurasia.Rypel, A.L. 2012. Meta-analysis of growth rates for a circumpolar fish, the northern pike (Esox lucius), with emphasis on effects of continent, climate, and latitude. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 21: 521-532.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology2
Life cycle & reproduction3
Habitat & environment3
Uses & economy1
Other traits3
Compounds documented for Esox lucius across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile5 classes
Documented compounds152 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cholesterol | 39,000 mg/100 g | FooDB | |
| L-Glutamic acid | 3,685 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| Nitrogen | 3,000 mg/100 g | FooDB | |
| L-Aspartic acid | 2,528 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| epsilon-Polylysine | 2,267 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| L-Leucine | 2,007 mg/100g | FooDB |
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Esox lucius has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Esox lucius carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type684 428 records
Origin
Range
Depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions33 of 85 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Toronto, CA | 734 |
| INEP KSC RASlocation not on record | 671 |
| University of Minnesota, James Ford Bell Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 501 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 423 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 401 |
| Stockholm, SE | 300 |
| NHMOlocation not on record | 275 |
| Edmonton, CA | 182 |
| University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record | 144 |
| Vancouver, CA | 131 |
| Champaign, US | 120 |
| Bonn, DE | 101 |
| Ohio State University - Fish Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record | 94 |
| Norsk institutt for naturforskninglocation not on record | 79 |
| Chicago, US | 63 |
| Washington, US | 61 |
| MZLUlocation not on record | 53 |
| Helsinki, FI | 52 |
| 52 | |
| SNSB-Zoologische Staatssammlung Münchenlocation not on record | 49 |
| Kuopio, FI | 38 |
| Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientalelocation not on record | 34 |
| Frankfurt am Main | 28 |
| Central Michigan University Museum of Cultural and Natural Historylocation not on record | 25 |
| Cambridge, US | 25 |
| München, DE | 24 |
| CEFElocation not on record | 21 |
| CASlocation not on record | 20 |
| NTNU-VMlocation not on record | 18 |
| Nizhyn Gogol State Universitylocation not on record | 17 |
| USFWSlocation not on record | 17 |
| Brussels, BE | 17 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 17 |
| Fribourg, CH | 14 |
| RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record | 13 |
| ASUlocation not on record | 13 |
| Geneva, CH | 12 |
| New Haven, US | 12 |
| Universität Zürich, Naturhistorisches Museumlocation not on record | 11 |
| University of Texas Biodiversity Collections (UTBC)location not on record | 10 |
| ISUAlocation not on record | 10 |
| Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii Polskiej Akademii Nauklocation not on record | 9 |
| University of Alabamalocation not on record | 9 |
| University of Nebraska State Museumlocation not on record | 9 |
| Copenhagen, DK | 8 |
| Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 6 |
| Royal Saskatchewan Museumlocation not on record | 6 |
| Tilburg, NL | 6 |
| Oulu, FI | 6 |
| Texas Memorial Museum, Texas Natural History Collectionlocation not on record | 6 |
| University of California San Diegolocation not on record | 5 |
| Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record | 5 |
| North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record | 5 |
| Paris, FR | 5 |
| BioFokuslocation not on record | 4 |
| ZSMlocation not on record | 4 |
| Forssa, FI | 4 |
| Fort Hays State University, Sternberg Museumlocation not on record | 4 |
| Dhaka, BD | 4 |
| Los Angeles, US | 3 |
| DOI/FWS, Kenai National Wildlife Refugelocation not on record | 3 |
| Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record | 3 |
| Zoologisches Museum Hamburglocation not on record | 3 |
| Naturmuseum Solothurnlocation not on record | 2 |
| Salzburg, AT | 2 |
| Royal Ontario Museumlocation not on record | 2 |
| South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversitylocation not on record | 2 |
| Musee d'Histoire Naturallelocation not on record | 2 |
| TMPMlocation not on record | 2 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 1 |
| Naturhistorisches Museum Wienlocation not on record | 1 |
| UWFClocation not on record | 1 |
| Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeirolocation not on record | 1 |
| Royal Museum for Central Africalocation not on record | 1 |
| Rovaniemi, FI | 1 |
| University of Victorialocation not on record | 1 |
| Banyoles, ES | 1 |
| FishBaselocation not on record | 1 |
| Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulolocation not on record | 1 |
| Provincia di Livornolocation not on record | 1 |
| Bourges, FR | 1 |
| South Kensington, GB | 1 |
| Frauenfeld, CH | 1 |
| University of Nebraskalocation not on record | 1 |
| Museum national d'Histoire naturellelocation not on record | 1 |
Where the DNA of Esox lucius was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.