| Esocidae (Pikes) |
| 41.6 cm SL (male/unsexed); 37.2 cm SL (female) |
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benthopelagic; freshwater, |
| Europe: France. Present in the Charente, Dordogne, Eyre, and Adour basins. Lake Mouriscot constitutes its currently known most southern location. Considering the biogeographical history of Atlantic French drainages, it should occur in the Garonne basin too, but the population could have regressed following the introduction of the Northern Pike E. lucius. There are still higher probabilities to encounter the Aquitanian pike in small tributaries, where humans do not stock Northern Pike, than in larger streams. It might be present in the "Sèvre niortaise" basin, but no specimen was captured, and in the Loire drainage, but we captured only E. lucius individuals. It is possible that Aquitanian pike is stocked and sold as E. lucius by fish farmers of southwestern France, in order to restock waterbodies in France or abroad for sport fishing. Additional investigations to characterize the limits of the distribution area are necessary. (Ref. 97279) |
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| E. aquitanicus should have similar ecological characteristics as E. lucius in terms of habitat, behavior, and predation, because no difference were mentioned about ecological traits between Aquitanian and the other French pike populations, except an earlier spawning in February instead of March-April. Its size can exceed 1000 mm TL (Dégrave, pers. comm.) A pike of 1370 mm was mentioned by Laporte in Lake Cazeau, right in the heart of the distribution area of E. aquitanicus. However, we cannot exclude early stockings of E. lucius. When there is cohabitation between the two species, the Aquitanian pike is able to hybridize with the northern pike (present study) (Ref. 97279) |
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Not Evaluated (N.E.) Ref. (130435)
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| harmless |
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