Grass Pickerel - BIO 210 Species Study
Habitat
The grass pickerel is known to live in clear waters along with little streams that have large amounts of aquatic vegetation. It likes to hide out in the weeds and other vegetation so it can attack its prey. (Conservation Commission of Missouri, 2013)
In Ozarks the grass pickerel is generally found in headwater creeks where there is little flow throughout the majority of the year. (Conservation Commission of Missouri, 2013)
For the most part the Grass Pickerel has been known to live in the southern part of Wisconsin, but are starting to work their way to northeastern part of the state. (Kleinert and Mraz, 1966)
Moving from the United States to Canada the Grass Pickerel is located in southwestern Quebec along with southern parts of Ontario. The Grass Pickerel has been spotted in the St.Lawrence River, as well as the waters of the Niagara region. Other spottings have located the pickerel in Lake Erie. According to an old historical resource the first sighting of the Grass Pickerel was found in three seperate locations by nature and man-made barricades. (Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2012)
As for the water temperatures that the Grass Pickerel prefers to live and reproduce in, it tends to live in temperatures from four degrees celsius to twelve degrees celsius. (Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2012)
The Grass Pickerel prefers to live in waters not much deeper than two meters in depth. Along with that, since the water is not very deep it means that the water is somewhat clear if not very clear. There needs to be a lot of vegetation for the Grass Pickerel to hide in for when it sits in the weeds to prey on food. (COSEWIC, 2005)
Now that we have discussed the specific habitat of the Grass Pickerel, we can pick apart the details of reproduction of which occurs in these areas. Click here to continue to the reproduction page.